


A Bit of Space

by Noteventhat (Facialteeth)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alien Flora & Fauna, Alien Planet, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Astronauts, Crash Landing, Eventual Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Hurt Magnus Bane, Insecure Alec Lightwood, Insecure Magnus Bane, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mundane Magnus Bane/Mundane Alec Lightwood, POV Magnus Bane, Protective Alec Lightwood, Sick Character, Slow Burn, Stranded, Vomiting, Wilderness Survival, minor character death (background)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26025820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Facialteeth/pseuds/Noteventhat
Summary: Alec and Magnus are the sole survivors after their spaceship crashes on an uninhabited planet. They have no way to contact anyone to let them know they’re still alive but somehow, they make it work. In the end, all they really need is each other.
Relationships: Magnus Bane & Ragnor Fell, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 47
Kudos: 138
Collections: Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020, Malec Favorites





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was created for the Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020 hosted by the [Malec Discord Server.](https://discord.gg/5nBgEp8)
> 
> You can read this fic completed on tumblr [here](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627805112506662912/a-bit-of-space) or wait for weekly Saturday updates right on this page. You can also enjoy this chapter in podfic form [here!](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter1.mp3)
> 
> Special thanks to [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/works) for creating the podfic for this piece and [theprophetlemonade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theprophetlemonade/pseuds/theprophetlemonade) for beta reading this and helping me work out all the kinks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus’ spaceship is having some problems.

Magnus threw his head back with a soft sigh and kicked his feet off the side of his desk. Instantly, he was spinning. There were locks on the bottom of their chairs to stop the ship’s movement from throwing them out of their seats when they were trying to work but Magnus liked to keep his unlocked for moments like this. He didn’t get motion sick, unlike some of his unfortunate companions and, sometimes, the glare of the monitors became too much and he needed to get away. 

So, he tilted his head back as he spun in his chair and stared up at the white metal ceiling that kept the void of space at bay. After a moment, Magnus planted his feet and found himself face to face with the data he’d been looking at before. He skimmed the screen once more, like some epiphany he hadn’t thought of would magically jump out at him from the numbers. It didn’t and so, Magnus tilted his head back and spun once again. It was a little childish but Magnus didn’t really care. Spinning gave him a chance to think.

He was trying to analyze the atmospheric composition of the planet they were orbiting. It wasn’t their true destination or even a point of interest for them but they were stuck here for a while and honestly, Magnus had nothing better to do in the meantime. 

Their destination was still far off, a planet a few lightyears away that they were dropping off some supplies to but there was an error with their communications system. It was protocol to stop if the ship lost communication. So here they were, drifting aimlessly around a planet Magnus had decided to check out to quell his boredom somewhat. 

The thing was, the data Magnus had gotten back from the scan was… puzzling to say the least. He could see the thick cloud cover from his window, obscuring any chance he had to actually look at the surface of the planet he was analyzing. He wondered what it looked like on the surface and that wonder was the whole reason Magnus had decided to look into the planet in the first place. 

He thought it might be an acidic, dry planet like venus or maybe, he’d found a planet with a deep icy ocean like Europa. Discovery was always the part of Magnus’ job that excited him most and he wouldn’t be discovering much on this trip. He was coming to take scans and analyze soil, which was charming in it’s own way but it still wasn’t the grand discovery Magnus had dreamed of in school.

Besides, it might be useful information at some point. There was no information they could get that _wouldn’t_ be useful to someone, somewhere but the report hadn’t come back showing anything Magnus expected at all. He’d expected the atmosphere to be mainly sulfur dioxide, but it wasn’t. The planet was mostly carbon. 

Magnus scanned over the readings once more but he wasn’t even sure why he was thinking about it so hard. There was no other conclusion to come to.

The clouds were made of water. Even more surprising than that, the atmosphere was full of nitrogen and oxygen. In all their years of searching, no planet that seemed this… _inhabitable_ had ever been found. Even the planet they were headed to on this supply run - a planet that would someday house humans - was not as inhabitable as these scans were telling him this random planet was.

Still, Magnus paused. He’d look like an idiot if he went and told everyone and it turned out his data was inaccurate. There was something wrong with their ship. Their communications were down, but maybe that wasn’t their only problem. He’d redo the scans, he decided suddenly. 

He’d redo them and, if they came back the same, maybe then he’d get excited. It wasn’t like he could send any data back home right now anyway and he really had nothing better to do. Before he had this to occupy him, Magnus had been spinning in circles trying not to go insane. 

Magnus clicked a few buttons. He saved the data and scheduled another probe to head out but this time, he set it for a longer scan. It wasn’t like they had anywhere to be. Magnus had just enough time to hit the button and close his screen down before Alexander Lightwood walked through the door into the observation deck. 

Alec was their head of communications and their captain. This whole mess was on him and he walked with his shoulders tense enough to show it. Even his lips were pressed in a tight thin line, something he only did when he was thinking too hard or once, when he’d told Magnus he had a headache. It was clear he was not having a lovely day.

Magnus spun to face him, quirking an eyebrow in his direction. “No luck?” he called, knowing what the answer was before Alec spoke. Magnus would have heard if they’d managed to establish communication again and besides, Alec’s unhappy face told Magnus all he needed to know.

Alec shook his head. “Our antenna is broken,” he stated mournfully as he flopped backwards onto one of the couches pressed against the wall. 

“It’s broken?” Magnus asked. Alec nodded, moving to brush back his dark messy hair. It looked like he hadn’t slept the night before or even bothered to look in a mirror. “We must’ve hit something. It looks like our fuel tank is damaged too but it’s just the backup fuel, so it’s not that big of a deal.”

“Unless something happens and we need our backup fuel,” Magnus cut in, frowning. They could use solar energy if they were really stuck but they’d have to be close enough to a viable star for that to work. It wasn’t exactly the most reliable backup plan.

“I tried to have the Angel fix it but it didn’t work,” Alec continued. “The damage is too severe. We’re going to have to go fix it ourselves.” 

The Angel was their ship. It was a grand piece of new aged technology, full of everything they needed. There were only ten of them on board, half of them there to keep the ship running, the other half there to manage the supplies they were dropping off and then Magnus, who’d come to poke at dirt when they landed but the Angel took care of them all. There wasn’t much the Angel couldn’t do but, apparently, they’d finally pushed it too far. 

“ _Can_ we fix it?” Magnus asked after a moment. Alec didn’t sound incredibly sure of himself and that alone was worrying. Alec was always sure of himself. 

Frowning, Alec nodded slowly. “Yeah.” They lapsed into silence for a beat before Alec added, “I think so and if we can’t, we just abandon the mission and head back.” He took a deep breath. “Our ship is fine. We’re okay. If we can’t get the antenna working, we just go back.” 

Magnus nodded. “Right,” he agreed easily. He knew it wasn’t as simple as Alec made it sound to ‘go back’. With their communications down, they’d have a hard time with navigation. The ship drove itself based on data they got from home. They had emergency maps and had coordinated for incidents like this, of course, but the thought of manually directing the ship back to Earth was not something Magnus was going to volunteer for. “Who’s going out to fix it?” he asked instead of voicing any of that.

“Andrew and Maia. I was going to go myself but they told me they had it,” Alec said, frowning as he shifted to pick a little anxiously at his fingers. Magnus had never seen Alec do that before but he’d also never seen Alec this stressed out, or ashamed. Magnus knew he felt guilty he wasn’t going out there to fix it himself but he had a crew for a reason.

Besides, Magnus could see why they told Alec they had it under control. Alec looked like he was ready to drop. Magnus stared at him for a moment before he rose to his feet. 

“Come on, let’s go have a bite to eat,” he announced as Alec hesitantly looked up and then stood to follow him. “Maybe, we’ll get a drink in you and send you off to bed.” 

Alec huffed a soft laugh as he stood up but Magnus wasn’t kidding. It looked like Alec was long overdue for a drink. They didn’t have much alcohol on board, and what little they did have was mostly saved for birthdays and holidays but if anyone was deserving of a drink _just because_ , it was Alec. 

“I’m serious,” Magnus insisted as he led Alec towards the kitchen. “You’re having a drink.”

Alec didn’t protest too much. 

Magnus wandered back to the observation deck after he knew Alec was safely tucked into bed. Magnus doubted that Alec would sleep long enough to wake up feeling refreshed, but at least he had convinced him to get _some_ rest. That alone was a feat to behold. Their captain seemed convinced if he wasn’t driving himself into the ground, he wasn’t doing enough. 

Magnus peered out the windows as he walked by to see if he could spot Andrew or Maia near the antenna. He thought he saw a flash of one of their boots before they disappeared out of sight again, leaving Magnus with nothing to watch. Sighing, Magnus went to sit down.

Normally, Magnus would take a moment like this to call Catarina or Ragnor on Earth, but he hadn’t been able to speak to them in days now. No one had spoken to anyone in days. They were completely and utterly off the grid and that was a lot of the reason Magnus found his down time so unbearable. He wanted to tell Ragnor what was happening. He wanted to hear whatever snarky remarks he’d have to say about it.

Magnus wondered if his friends had been told there was something wrong with their ship and that’s why he wasn’t talking to them. He wondered if they hadn’t been told anything at all. If mission control was trying to keep this quiet, they might not have said a word. Magnus wondered if Catarina and Ragnor were sitting somewhere, making furious phone calls in an attempt to find out why Magnus hadn’t called them in days. 

Both of them would too. Magnus could imagine Ragnor barking at some poor intern for not putting him through to someone more superior, yelling his way up the chain of command until he was hung up on, just to call again.

Magnus wondered if Alec’s family was worried. Magnus was pretty sure that Alec mentioned having siblings. He’d seen Alec video chatting with a girl who looked a lot like him, at least. 

Magnus remembered because he’d ducked into the call to say hello and, as he’d walked away, he’d heard the girl whistle and tell Alec to shoot his shot. Magnus didn’t think he was supposed to hear that.

Truthfully, Alec wouldn’t have to shoot much of a shot to get him, but there were fraternisation laws for a reason. It was inappropriate. No romantic involvement while deployed. No hooking up. Magnus couldn’t imagine their captain as someone who would break that rule, but maybe, when they all hit the ground again, Magnus would give Alec his number.

Despite being stuck with Alec for as long as he had been, Magnus wouldn’t mind getting to know him a little better in a different environment where Alec wasn’t always in charge of him - not that Magnus minded other people being in charge. Magnus wondered if Alec liked Italian food. He knew a lovely Italian restaurant.

God, Magnus would have killed for a fresh bread stick, a nice candle light dinner, perhaps Alexander Lightwood stretched out on a platter for him. Really, Magnus would have killed to go on a date with anyone at all. He didn’t want to think about how long it had been since he’d kissed someone or how long it would be before he had the chance again.

It paled in comparison to the real thing but Magnus let himself dream. 

The communications system came back online as quickly as it had been lost. The signal was weak as hell. Clearly, they hadn’t been able to repair the antenna completely. They might not be able to make calls with it like this, but at the very least, they could send a message to base and let everyone know they weren’t dead.

‘We’re okay, stupid rock broke our antenna,’ Magnus imagined they’d write. ‘Keep the dock warm for us.’ 

Magnus moved to his desk and tried to pull up his private messages, hoping the weak signal could accomplish at least that. Despite how many times Magnus impatiently clicked it, the loading symbol spun and spun and spun. Magnus hadn’t ever seen it take this long to connect and for a moment, he was convinced it wouldn’t. 

Finally, the screen loaded, revealing a long list of unread messages. Magnus ignored the ones from base. He was sure Andrew would wake up Alec and they would contact mission control together. Instead, Magnus clicked on one of the new messages from Ragnor, finding the blurb of it alone far more interesting.

 _‘If you’re ignoring me to go flirt with your shipmates, I’m going to be pissed. Your friends are more important than your crush on your captain,’_ he’d written, clearly annoyed that Magnus hadn’t answered his call. They had a routine of speaking nearly every night at the same time and the few times they hadn’t, Magnus had let him know why. 

Magnus frowned at the last sentence. He didn’t have a crush. Sure, Alec was cute and if he was interested, Magnus wouldn’t turn him down - but it wasn’t a crush. A crush was for kids. What Magnus had was more of a… vague appreciation for the man above him.

 _‘Call me back, asshole,’_ Ragnor finished the message. 

Magnus clicked on the next one, which had come this morning. 

_‘I’ve heard your ship is broken or something. For all the money they spent on that stupid thing, you’d think they could make one that wouldn’t break. I informed your commander of that when he called me and I don’t think he was very pleased. ‘Unavoidable’, my ass. If you die up there, rest assured I’ll sue every one of them._

_Call me back when you can. Cat is worried about you. Raphael even texted, not about you but the concern came through regardless.’_

Magnus’ mouth flickered in a smile. He knew it wasn’t only Catarina and Raphael who were worried about him, no matter how much Ragnor might pretend. He hit reply. _‘We’re back online. Our antenna broke. The signal is still weak. I probably can’t make phone calls right now. We’re going to contact base and see what we’re doing. If we can’t fix the antenna completely we might be heading back early._

 _Thanks for worrying about me,_ ’ he added, unable to stop himself from rubbing it in a little bit. ‘ _But we’re okay. I’ll let you know what we’re doing later._ ’ Magnus went to hit send but something made him stop. He and Ragnor rarely said they loved each other. They _did_ love each other but to say it outloud? 

It just wasn’t their style. Still, Magnus paused. 

_‘I love you guys. Talk to you soon,’_ he added at the end. He hit send before he could overthink it and write something even more sappy or erase any show of his feelings all together. Magnus sat and stared at the screen until the message finally sent and then he rose to his feet.

He could hear the whirl of Andrew and Maia entering the airlock. Magnus decided to be helpful and go wake Alec up before they had to. It had nothing to do with wanting to see Alec again or getting to see him tired and bleary-eyed, curled up in bed with his messy hair. 

That had nothing to do with it at all.

The ship was more damaged than they had originally thought. It _was_ their backup fuel that was leaking, which was the only reassuring thing Andrew and Maia had to report. They would have been completely screwed if it was their back up tank and their primary tank, but the primary was fine. 

Luckily for them, they’d been able to write off that worry and add a new one. Andrew thought their ship might be leaking oxygen. Maia was almost positive it was. Apparently, the asteroid that had hit them was bigger than any of them had thought and the damage seemed to go far beyond their broken antenna. 

They couldn’t fly the Angel back if there was a leak. Now, they had to fix the hull of the ship _and_ fix the leak if there was one. It was also a little concerning that their fuel was leaking. Alone, that wouldn’t be a big deal but paired with a potential oxygen leak… Well, Magnus knew that rocket fuel exploded when it came into contact with oxygen. 

Their two little problems combined could make a much bigger problem for them. 

Alec sent Maia to check their oxygen levels as the rest of the crew stood around, crammed into the communications center, waiting for a response from mission control. ‘Happy to hear from you - now, fix it,’ came the eventual reply. 

Magnus couldn’t help but roll his eyes. It was so great they had these brilliant minds back on Earth looking out for them. The crew really wouldn’t have thought of fixing it without them. Truly, they were blessed. 

Andrew pointed out that they had a roll of fiber mesh they could use to patch the hull and it probably would have been as simple as that if Maia hadn’t returned just then looking white in the face. They had all talked about the possibility that the ship was leaking but secretly, Magnus thought they’d all hoped it wouldn’t be. 

Everyone knew what Maia was about to say but still, Magnus held his breath. “We’re leaking,” She announced. She was always quite frank, and while Magnus knew it was a serious situation, he couldn’t help but think that she could have said it with a bit more pizazz to soften the blow.

Magnus glanced to Alec, who suddenly looked like he was going to throw up. 

“It’s fine,” Magnus jumped in. “Someone update mission control.” He said, waving his hand vaguely towards the people on his left. “It’s fine,” He repeated. “We just have to patch the leak and make sure nothing gets inside.” Magnus looked around to everyone, before his eyes finally landed on Alec again. 

Slowly, Alec nodded but it didn’t look like he was completely there yet. “Right,” He said softly. He blinked for a moment and then he took in a deep breath, seeming to form a plan in his head as he did so. “Magnus is right. It’s fine. Send an update. Let’s start getting stuff together to patch the hull and find the leak.”

Alec fell silent for another second, his mind clearly racing through everything they had to do. “And someone go make sure our emergency supplies are in order, just in case,” he said finally. 

Magnus knew they would be, unless someone had been messing with them. They were on a spaceship; it wasn’t as if their supplies could disappear. There were no go bags they could grab and run with. Their emergency plan, should the entire ship fail, was to get to the living quarters on the port side of the ship, where their emergency supplies were hidden away, and hope they could detach from the ship before any massive system shutdown left them stranded - or worse, dead. But the living quarters would not sustain the crew for long - at that point, they would be stuck, floating, going nowhere, and hoping that whoever they could contact back home would be able to rescue them in time. 

It was a plan made to get them out alive as the absolute worst case scenario. When he had covered it in training, Magnus had thought there was no way they'd ever have to use it. Now, he just hoped it wouldn’t come to that. 

The crew stood there for a moment, silent as they absorbed Alec’s instructions before they all scrambled into action. Magnus went to check their emergency supplies, though he felt a little useless being given that task. 

Standing alone in the small room they’d deploy from should things go deeply south, Magnus realized that this was bad. Logically, he knew that it was, but fully grasping it was different. The crew could patch the hull and it could all be fine, but alone in the dark, Magnus let himself explore the possibility that things could also not go that way. 

Their slowly draining fuel could find it’s way in. It could explode. It could kill them all in an instant. Magnus tried not to dwell on it for too long. What else could he really do?

For a while after that, it seemed like things were turning in their favor. The emergency plan was unchanged, their supplies were fine and besides, it looked like they wouldn’t need to use them at all. Mission control had approved of Alec’s plan, thankfully, because the crew had already begun repairing the ship when they finally received another response back. Patching the hull was going okay, though they hadn’t found the specific spot where their oxygen was leaking from. 

All the fuel that had leaked into space wasn’t a problem for them and so far, it hadn’t managed to find it’s way inside. The tension on the ship eased slightly as the hours went on that nothing horrendously bad happened. Those that were certified to do spacewalks took turns working on the hull (Magnus, unfortunately, was not certified even though he’d been trained on how to do it ‘just in case’). For a while, all had seemed well.

It was stupid that they’d ever jumped to the worse case scenario and assumed the fuel would get in. It was a small leak they had. What were the odds that would happen? The ship was fixable. They were back online. Things were looking up. Besides, if something was going to go wrong, it would have already happened. 

Right?

Magnus was in the observation room when everything changed. He was sat in his chair, scrolling through his messages to see if Ragnor had replied when he heard a ferocious _bang_. 

Heard it, felt it - there was no real way to explain the explosion that shook through the entire ship and flooded the air with the stench of fire; Magnus felt it burning in his lungs with the first panicked breath he dragged in. All at once, every alarm the ship had was blaring. The lights went down a second later and all that was left was the glow of a distant star bouncing off the clouds of the planet they were orbiting, lighting the room in pale white, split only by the violent red flashes of the alarms overhead. 

Before Magnus could move, Alec burst into the room. His eyes were wide and panicked and Magnus could see clear on his face that he had absolutely no idea what to do. This was the worst possible case scenario. This was worse than anything they’d been trained for. 

Alec stared at him for a long, horrified moment, before he finally snapped, “Emergency protocol, go!” 

Magnus jumped to his feet but before he could even ask Alec _which_ emergency protocol he was following, Alec was running. He ran past Magnus and as he ran, Magnus realized he was yelling, answering Magnus’ unspoken question: get to the emergency supplies and wait, in case they needed to close the airlocks and break away from the rest of the ship. But Alec wasn’t running towards the living quarters himself.

Alec was running towards the explosion and after a moment of hesitation, Magnus sprinted after him. Magnus caught up to him just as they hurled themselves around the corner at the end of the hallway and, for a second, Magnus couldn’t even understand what he was seeing. He could see the fire and dark black smoke but it wasn’t billowing out, like Magnus would have expected to see. It was all contained, trapped behind the heavy doors that led into the main living quarters and the rest of the ship. 

Magnus knew the doors locked automatically. The ship was going to contain the fire if it could and if that meant trapping their crew on the half of the ship they couldn’t escape from, so be it. 

Alec ran towards the door and Magnus wanted to stop him, but he couldn’t move. He stood frozen in the doorway as he stared at the situation in front of them. Magnus saw the layout of the ship in his head. What was behind them? The observation deck, the communications center and the command room that Alec had come running from. The port side living quarters were off to the left but there was no reason someone would have been in there. 

Their entire crew was behind that door, Magnus realized. Anyone else would have come running, like Alec had but no one had followed them. _Everyone_ but him and Alec was trapped behind that door.

Alec reached the door as the realisation swept through Magnus. He rammed into it with the full force of his body, as if he could somehow burst through solid steel - but there was no chance of that happening. They both knew that door was locked and it was not going to open. Even the windows were made not to break under any conditions.

Regardless, Alec slammed into the door again and again. Magnus finally moved towards him and it was only as he got closer that he saw Alec’s arms were burnt from the contact. Magnus grabbed him and tried to pull him backwards, realizing then that the alarms were blaring something new:

_‘Critical damage. Oxygen production offline. Initiate evacuation protocol. Critical damage-’_

“We need to go!” Magnus yelled, pulling Alec backwards. 

“They’re in there!” Alec said desperately, struggling in vain against Magnus’ grasp. “They’re still in there!”

“They’re dead!” Magnus snapped. “They were all in there. They’re dead! We need to go, _Alec_!”

Alec turned to look at him and Magnus could see the tears burning in his eyes. Alec was their captain and Magnus knew he would gladly give up his life to save the crew but they were behind that door and Alec was not. There was nothing Alec could do now but try to save himself and Magnus. 

Alec nodded once and a tear fell down his cheek as his face hardened. He reached out and clasped Magnus’ hand tight in his own as they both started running. Magnus had held hands many times in his life but never like there. There was nothing romantic or caring in the touch. Alec was clutching his hand like he thought if he let go Magnus would disappear behind that locked door like everyone else. 

The rest happened very fast. They made it to the living quarters, all their emergency supplies stacked up against the walls, untouched.

Only this morning, someone had laughed at the mention of their emergency plan. “If you had to leave the rest of the ship, would you rather it be in an empty room or a nice living room with couches?” He thought it might have been Simon.

Magnus hadn’t truly considered it at the time. It was _emergency_ protocol. Nothing they ever really expected to use, but as he and Alec skidded into the room and Magnus fell back against one of the couches, watching as Alec started closing the doors and stabbing at buttons on the control panel, he realized Simon had been right. 

This was much better than an empty escape pod filled only with supplies. This was their living room. Honestly, it was the worst of the two communal living spaces they had but Magnus had sat in here many times before and, for a second, he could pretend that nothing was wrong. He could pretend that everything was okay and they’d just come here to sit and talk like it was any other day. 

Suddenly, Magnus became aware that Alec must have finished whatever protocol it was he needed to go through to get the pod to detach because the Angel was speaking to them now, it’s crisp robotic voice telling them to find a sitting position until the red light on the control panel stopped flashing. 

Alec leaned back in his chair. Magnus expected to see relief on his face but all he saw was a blank, resigned expression. It almost looked like he was unfeeling but his eyes gave him away. Reflecting in the lights off the control panel, Magnus could see that his eyes were brimming with tears. 

Magnus wanted to get up and move to him. He wanted to speak. He didn’t even know what he planned on saying, what he could _possibly_ say to make any of this any better but he didn’t get a chance to try and say anything at all because the moment the pod became completely detached from the ship, it was obvious that something was wrong. 

The Angel was speaking again but this time, Magnus couldn’t make out the words. He couldn’t hear anything because their ship was making an awful whirring sound that Magnus couldn’t even place. Magnus went flat against the back of his seat. Alec fell out of the chair he’d been sitting in, finding himself being flung towards the wall instead. 

Magnus’ stomach flipped. He felt weightless and he felt the air get sucked from his chest all at once. Falling, Magnus realized. He wasn’t weightless. They were falling. Fast. 

The last thing Magnus remembered was a horrible burning smell and the feeling of heat on his skin. He must have passed out then because he wasn’t aware of anything else until he woke up, covered in his own blood with Alec screaming. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus survive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter two! You can listen to this chapter [here](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter2.mp3) or read it on tumblr [here!](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627804932659085312/a-bit-of-space-26) Or just scroll down.

The first thing Magnus became aware of was the pain. He tried to open his eyes but the moment he did, he was blinded by bright white light that burned until he clenched his eyes shut again. He could hear someone murmuring distantly and he was vaguely aware that he was being moved because it _hurt,_ but the sound faded from Magnus’ thoughts quickly, lost in the sea of pain. 

He must have passed out again then. At some point, an unknowable amount of time later, he managed to pry his eyes open and this time instead of being blinded by light that might not have even been real, he saw Alec. Alec was crouched over him and he was bleeding - or maybe, it was Magnus’ blood covering Alec’s hands. Magnus couldn’t be sure.

Alec’s mouth was moving but Magnus couldn’t make out the words he was saying beyond the ringing in his ears; all he could see was the terror in Alec’s eyes as he grabbed whatever he could and pressed it into Magnus’ chest, causing Magnus to arch his back and open his mouth in a silent scream that he couldn’t hear. Magnus remembered Alec speaking to him - seconds later, or maybe hours. Alec was using his captain voice, the same one Magnus was conditioned to listen to, and that might have been the only reason Magnus heard him. 

“You’re not going to die. Do you hear me, Bane? You’re _not_ going to leave me here.” 

Magnus would have laughed, if he could have. He had no control over that and, as if to prove that point, Magnus passed out again. He didn’t remember anything else after that besides the pain, which didn’t completely go away even when everything faded to black. 

He only woke up a few times after that. He remembered things in fragments after the blood and the screaming had passed. Light streaming through a door. Alec murmuring something about air. Alec dumping water down his throat. Alec telling him how much stuff he was missing, if only he would wake up. 

Magnus remembered wanting to tell him that he was awake but his mouth was so dry and his lips wouldn’t move no matter how hard Magnus tried. 

The next time Magnus really woke up, it was to the familiar feeling of pain that was no easier to bear with consciousness. His whole body felt like it was on fire and his chest felt like someone had reached in and ripped everything out of it. He must have groaned or whimpered because all of a sudden, Alec was there, pressing something cold across Magnus’ forehead.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to wake up again,” Alec murmured, his voice wavering a little. 

Magnus forced his eyes open, a strangled groan escaping his lips as he instinctively tried to shove his elbows under his body and push himself up to look around. Even that simple movement shot blinding pain through Magnus again but he wasn’t thinking straight enough to understand that _he_ was causing the pain he was feeling. 

Alec came into his vision instantly. He was blurry and Magnus could only see him through a haze, but he was there and he was the first real thing Magnus had seen since whatever had happened on the ship. He grabbed Magnus’ shoulders and it took a second for Magnus to realize that Alec was trying to get him to lie down again. 

Magnus fell back hopelessly and winced as another stab of pain cut through him. It felt like someone had shoved an axe into his chest and Magnus didn’t understand what could have happened to make him feel so breathtakingly horrible. Magnus opened his eyes again, clearly not knowing enough to stay put and when he struggled to look down at himself, all he could see was red. 

Magnus could see the opaque silicone skin holding his gaping abdomen together. It did a good job protecting him from infection but the material did nothing to hide the wound itself. Magnus wanted to look closer at it. He wanted to prod at it and see how hurt he actually was but Alec was there again before he could. 

Alec pressed the cold cloth to his forehead again, successfully forcing Magnus’ to let his head fall back and look away from his mangled body. He didn’t have the strength to fight him and Magnus was so tired, he forgot why he even wanted to. 

“Stay down,” Alec murmured, wiping away the sweat from Magnus’ face. “You’re alright.”

He sounded reassuring but even in the haze of pain Magnus was in, he doubted he was being told the truth. Even if Magnus couldn’t look closer at the wound, he knew it had to be bad. Magnus was not alright but he didn’t have the strength to correct Alec.

Magnus wasn’t sure if he could find the words to correct him even if he wanted to. Besides, maybe Alec needed the reassurance that Magnus would be okay more than Magnus did. Magnus remembered something else from right before he’d passed out one of those countless times. He remembered Alec begging him, not yelling like he had right after the crash, but pleading softly under his breath for Magnus not to leave him.

Magnus wanted to say something but before he could try to speak, Alec was pushing water to his lips. 

Magnus swallowed, choking it down with a cough and splutter, before he managed to open his eyes again and find Alec’s face again. The sight that met him contrasted so sharply with the Alec that Magnus remembered last. He remembered Alec in his uniform, panicked and terrified. The Alec in front of him had shed all his formal clothes and was wearing a simple undershirt, one that was dirtied with blood. Alec’s hair was a complete mess and even his facial hair, which Alec normally kept perfectly smooth, had started to peek through. 

Magnus’ bleary eyes darted past him to look around the room. Instantly, Magnus noticed that everything was slanted and warped. The table across from him was tilting down and it took Magnus a moment to realize that he too was lying on an angle. Their ship did not _slant_ , certainly not in space at least. 

Magnus clenched his eyes shut, already feeling the strain in them that told him to close his eyes and go back to sleep. “Where are we?” he asked. His voice was rough and dry, even with the help of the water Alec had just given him. It felt like he hadn’t spoken in weeks. 

“The ship,” Alec said flatly, pressing the cloth back over Magnus’ forehead. “Or part of it.” He dabbed the cloth across Magnus’ skin before he moved to grab something beside him. Magnus wanted to tell him to come back, that the cloth felt good but he heard the click of a med kit opening before he could. “We crashed.” Alec said finally. 

It was hard for Magnus to completely focus on what Alec was saying but Magnus knew in his technical mind that something about that didn’t make sense. “It’s made to land-” Magnus croaked out. He didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t have to. Alec knew what he was saying. 

“Yeah,” Alec laughed softly but it was a bitter sound. At Magnus’ side, he moved and Magnus felt him start to dab around his chest. When Magnus forced his eyes open, he could see that Alec was wiping stray blood away, trying to clean Magnus’ skin where it met the fake mesh that was holding him together. “Apparently, the landing gear wasn’t working right. The thrusters slowed the fall somewhat but we fell. We landed wrong. You got hurt. We had to have been closer to the planet than I thought for its gravity to pull us down. I should’ve checked.” Alec spoke with his eyes intent on what he was doing but Magnus didn’t need to see his eyes to know what Alec was really saying. He blamed himself. 

Magnus wanted to tell him he was being stupid but his words were bit off with a groan as Alec started to peel the silicone away from his skin. 

“Sorry,” Alec whispered instantly, suddenly a touch softer.

After a moment, Magnus managed to gather his thoughts again. “What could you have done differently?” he asked, clenching his hands on the sheet he was lying on as Alec gave another gentle tug. “We’d have died if we stayed. We needed to leave.”

Alec remained silent for a moment before he spoke. “I could have tried to move us-” 

“It was on _fire_ ,” Magnus cut in. He didn’t remember much about what had happened after they’d left, but he remembered that. “We didn’t have air. There was no time.”

Alec was silent for another second, long enough that Magnus thought he was going to ignore him but finally, he spoke: “Yeah, I guess.” Alec pulled the silicone away completely and then, he sat back as he shifted to grab something else.

Magnus had his mouth open to say something more, but then he shifted and strained his neck so he could look down at himself. Any words he was about to say were lost. 

He knew he’d been hurt bad but _fuck_ , Alec could have warned him. The fear in Alec’s voice when he’d been screaming suddenly made so much more sense because Magnus hadn’t just _hurt_ himself. His abdomen was torn open. It looked like he’d sawed himself in half.

At the sight of Magnus’ face, Alec moved suddenly, trying to divert Magnus’ attention as he grabbed some supplies out of the box at his side. “It’s fine. Don’t look.” He rushed out.

For once, Magnus listened. He let his head fall back and he clenched his eyes shut. He felt sick. “How did that happen?” he asked finally, when the nausea subsided. 

It looked like Alec had done his best to clean it up. The wound didn’t look infected and Magnus was sure the artificial skin had helped seal it but that didn’t mean it wasn’t bad. Magnus had never been hurt that bad before. He’d never even _seen_ someone get hurt that bad before.

“When we-” Alec cut himself off and Magnus felt him probing with the cloth, something that made his jaw clench to stop himself from whimpering. “-landed you fell into the table.” He fell silent for another second and when he finally spoke again, he sounded hesitant. “I’m going to spray some disinfectant.” 

He didn’t tell Magnus it would hurt but Magnus was well aware that it would. He nodded once and then Alec sprayed it and everything went white again. Magnus’ jaw felt so tight he thought he might break it. He heard a sound in his ears that he realized, after a second, it was him screaming behind his gritted teeth. 

“I know,” Alec murmured as he sprayed the disinfectant again and then again. “I’m sorry.” Finally, he stopped and when Magnus was able to unclench his teeth and breathe properly again, he opened his mouth. 

“Sadist,” he murmured. 

“Yeah,” Alec laughed softly. He sealed Magnus’ chest back up again but Magnus could hardly even feel it compared to what Alec had just done to him. “Try to rest.” Alec whispered finally, after he had put everything away. “You need it.” 

Magnus didn’t have to be told twice.

Magnus woke up sometime later to Alec insisting he had to check his wounds again. They went through the familiar agonizing routine of Alec probing at him and spraying him with disinfect again. After, he made Magnus drink more water and eat some of their tasteless freeze dried rations. Clearly, torturing Magnus with the spray alone wasn’t enough for him.

It was only after Magnus had eaten and woken up a bit more than he had since the crash that he realized something. “We can breathe,” he announced unprompted. 

Alec paused for a second, looking over to him like Magnus couldn’t have said anything more obvious. “Yeah, thankfully.” He responded finally. 

Magnus supposed it was a stupid observation. Clearly, they could breathe but Magnus had been awake for far less time than Alec had. This realization was new to him. Magnus looked around the ship, taking in details he’d missed before. “We don’t have power,” he pointed out. “But we’re breathing.” 

What Magnus was really saying was that their oxygen production was completely offline and yet-

Alec nodded. “It’s breathable. I couldn’t believe it at first but-” His eyes flickered to Magnus’ chest. “I was a little preoccupied to realize it initially. I think there’s more oxygen here than on Earth. My lungs burned for a while but that could have been from the crash too and I… Well, I hit my head when we landed.” 

Magnus took in what Alec was saying before he struggled to sit up a little bit. Instantly, pain blossomed throughout Magnus’ body but he ignored it this time. He was sick of laying down. “The scans I took-” 

Alec frowned as he watched him move but he didn’t scold him, like he had last time. 

“The data was _so_ close to Earth’s atmosphere.” Magnus continued when he finally settled in position slightly more upright than before. “Maybe there was more oxygen. I don’t really remember. I mean, there was water, nitrogen-” Magnus cut himself off before he could keep rambling. Alec knew what Earth’s atmosphere was made of. “It looked like everything needed to support life.” 

“You didn’t say anything,” Alec accused, frowning slightly. 

“Well, I didn’t think they were accurate. I wanted to redo the scans before I said anything and you had a lot going on anyway.” 

Alec continued frowning at his lap and for a moment Magnus thought Alec was actually angry with him but then an odd look passed over Alec's face and slowly, he rose to his feet. “Look,” he said softly, moving towards the big metal door that had once led out of this room and into the hallway that would lead to the observation deck. 

Alec pulled the manual lever and cranked it back until finally, the door began to crack open. It did not lead into the hallway, like Magnus had instinctively expected. Instead, the door opened and Magnus found himself once again blinded by light. He’d seen the light coming in from the small windows but he hadn’t really thought any further about it until now. 

The door opened more and as Magnus’ eyes adjusted, he found himself flabbergasted by what he was seeing. For a moment, Magnus almost thought they were on Earth. Magnus saw greenery. He saw high trees, plants growing and birds, or what looked like birds, flying high in the sky. But as Magnus looked closer, he realized that there was no way they were on Earth and not just because Magnus knew for a fact they’d been exceptionally far away from their home planet when they crashed.

The bird he thought he saw didn’t fly like Magnus knew a bird should. Magnus watched it hover for a second before shooting higher into the air, like a kid’s toy taking off. The trees Magnus first noticed looked like no trees Magnus had ever seen. There was no bark. There was no clear crown on top, where the branches would normally billow out.

Instead, they looked like enormous plants reaching towards the sky; they had tall stems and giant leaves that branched off at the top. A single leaf would probably be bigger than Magnus, and he saw a few that might be bigger than their small chunk of a ship. 

Some of the smaller plants - or at least, Magnus didn’t know what else to call them besides plants - were bright purple. Others Magnus saw bore leaves that were completely translucent, causing them to look like they were glowing when the light hit them, and then look like they weren’t there at all when they were tucked into the shadows. 

Magnus wanted to look closer. He wanted to get up and take samples, to analyze what they were made out of, to study the soil and look closer at whatever creature he’d seen flying. But the ship didn’t have power and Magnus wasn’t sure how much of his lab equipment had made it into their emergency supplies anyway. Besides, he doubted he could even sit up completely without tearing open his wound. Before he could even consider it anymore, Alec was closing the door again. 

Magnus opened his mouth to protest but Alec spoke before he could, a touch of the captain Magnus knew slipping through in his tone. “We don’t know if it’s dangerous,” he stated simply. “Any one of those plants could release something toxic to us. Those animals could kill us from miles away. We don’t know.” When the door was completely closed again, he turned and moved back to Magnus’ side. “And you’re hurt,” he added softly, eyeing Magnus’ chest.

The tenderness in Alec’s tone made Magnus pause and consider it. There wasn’t really any use in arguing. He _was_ hurt. Badly. Any hope he had of standing up anytime soon was quickly dashed when he contemplated reality. “What about when we run out of water?” he asked simply. “Food?” 

Alec’s eyes flickered away. “We have a water filter.” 

“We don't know what's in the water out there. We don’t know if it can be filtered,” Magnus countered, sounding much like Alec had a moment before. “Or what we can eat.” 

They both fell silent for a moment before Alec sighed. “We’ll have to try it eventually.” He admitted. His eyes darted over to the cabinet where Magnus knew their rations were. “We have a lot of food. There’s a lot of those nutrition blocks. We’ll figure out water when we get there.” His eyes darted back to Magnus and Magnus knew what he was thinking about without him having to say it.

There was a silent, unspoken ‘ _if you survive that long_ ’ in the look Alec gave him. In his head, Magnus heard Alec calling for him, begging for him not to leave him alone. He wondered what Alec would do if Magnus didn’t make it and then, he decided that he didn’t want to know the answer. 

Magnus was alive for now. They’d deal with the rest when it came. Or Alec would, at least.

A week passed by. Magnus was able to hold onto his consciousness longer and longer. Every day Alec cleaned his now-healing wounds and poured water down Magnus’ throat, regardless of how many times Magnus said they should try to conserve it and after about a week, Magnus was finally able to pull himself to his feet. 

Alec wasn’t pleased and had argued that Magnus should rest for longer, but Alec had to sleep at some point, and when Magnus saw him doze off on the small couch across from him, he’d taken his chance. Moving was still painful but it was far easier than it had been a week before. Magnus was careful to not reopen his wound, but there really wasn’t a way to get up without moving his chest.

Magnus had just managed to make it to his feet when Alec woke up. 

“What are you doing?” Alec snapped, rising like he was about to force Magnus to sit back down. 

Magnus turned to look at him, his stance a little stiffer than he would have liked. “Open the door,” he said in place of an answer, nodding towards the doorway Alec had only briefly cracked open. He knew he wouldn’t be able to force that crank himself, unless he really did want to bleed all over himself again.

Alec frowned, eyeing Magnus up and down. “You’re hurt,” he protested weakly, like he knew Magnus wasn’t going to relent but had to try regardless. 

“No-” Magnus said instantly, a smile flickering across his face. “I’m all better. Now open the door for me. I can’t do it myself for _completely_ unrelated reasons.” 

Alec huffed a laugh and after a moment of hesitation, he moved to open the door. “We can’t touch anything,” he reminded Magnus, still frowning as he forced the door open. “It could be dangerous.” 

As their captain, Alec had always been assured of himself. He knew when to tell people what to do. He knew when to give people space. He knew when to snap and when to close himself off so that he wouldn’t yell at the people he commanded, but here, Magnus was starting to see a more vulnerable side of Alec.

Neither of them knew what they were doing here. Neither of them knew what was best or how they were going to survive before help reached them - if it ever would. They were here together and whatever knowledge and experience that had made Alec a good captain before also made him a good companion now. 

He had insisted that they stay inside while Magnus was still bound to bed but now, he didn’t fight Magnus on opening the door. He knew Magnus would disobey orders and try himself, even if Alec refused. 

That was a good quality in a person, especially someone you were stranded with. Knowing when to cut your losses and give in to someone’s stubborn whims was something Magnus valued greatly in other people. Ragnor also had the same quality, though he gave Magnus a little more trouble about it than Magnus would have liked.

Magnus thought about Ragnor for a moment. He wondered if his friends back home had been told that they were all dead. He and Alec had already talked about it. Mission Control would most likely assume that everyone had died on the ship. Maybe someone was coming to get them, but Alec was a realist and he doubted it. 

Most likely, they were stuck here and no one was coming for them. Their whole crew was dead, people they’d spent months and months alone with. They would run out of supplies. They would most likely die here with no one even knowing they’d been alive there in the first place. 

Though Alec had been happy Magnus was awake, it was hard to push everything else out of their minds. Confined together in their small spaceship, their glum had hung heavy in the air and stayed stagnant until Magnus felt like he was going to choke on. Alec blamed himself for everyone’s deaths, even though there was nothing he could have done differently to save them. He blamed himself for them being stranded and for Magnus getting hurt. He blamed himself for the fact that they’d probably never see their families again. 

They needed some kind of escape and luckily, they had a door that led right outside into a world uncharted. Alec was rightfully nervous something would hurt them and that showed clear as day on his face as he started to crack the door open but Magnus knew they needed to do something. They were both going to drown in despair if they sat in that ship any longer.

The moment the door was open, Alec stepped aside. He frowned and glanced back to Magnus.

Magnus wasn’t sure if Alec expected him to change his mind but Magnus was not going to do that. They’d have to explore outside eventually. They might as well do it for the first time on their own terms, when they weren’t being forced out because they’d run out of food or water. 

Magnus walked outside, with Alec hovering nervously close behind him. He’d seen the light from the doorway before but basking in it now was different. He’d just spent months on a spaceship with nothing but the artificial sun lamp to warm his skin. If Magnus closed his eyes, all he could feel was the wind gently caressing him and the warm sunlight that felt exactly like home. After a moment, Magnus opened his eyes again and leaned back against the side of their ship. He turned to Alec and a breathless laugh bubbled out of his lips. 

They were stranded. They’d run out of supplies soon. Everyone thought they were dead. The rest of their crew was dead but in the warm sunlight, it was easier to see that they were pretty lucky too. 

For starters, Magnus wasn’t dead yet. Neither was Alec. They’d crash landed on the only planet Magnus had ever heard of - besides their own - that they could actually survive on and if Magnus was being truthful, the fact that he’d gotten stuck here with Alec wasn’t half bad either. Alec was someone that was easy to get along with but he was also practical. He was level headed in a way that Magnus knew would benefit them, especially because Magnus himself tended to not be. 

All in all, things could have been a lot worse. Magnus could have ended up here alone, something he wouldn’t want in his worst nightmares. Magnus tried to focus on that and nothing else. He’d been focusing on everything else for days now. They needed a break. 

“Let’s have a picnic,” Magnus declared suddenly, as he carefully slid down the side of the ship until he found himself resting on the ground. His chest twinged in protest but he quickly stifled the groan before Alec saw and used it as an excuse to force him back inside where it was ‘safe’. 

Alec was silent for a moment before he turned to Magnus, deadpan. “You want to eat your nutrition block out here?” He asked, clearly unimpressed. 

Magnus peered up at him and nodded earnestly. “Yes. I would.”

Alec stared at him for another long moment, clearly trying to gauge if Magnus was serious or not. When he realized he was, he sighed softly but turned to head back into the ship. “Yell, if you need help,” He murmured as he disappeared. When he came back out again, he was holding a small container of juice and two plastic cups, along with the dried nutrition blocks that were starting to remind Magnus more and more of fish food. 

Alec sat next to him, after carefully surveying the ground for anything that might hurt him and then, he began pouring the juice out for them both. Magnus knew they wouldn’t have much of that but it was a special occasion. They were outside. They were alive. They were together. It was as special as Magnus imagined it would get for a while. 

“How very romantic,” Magnus teased softly. There wasn’t much ‘romance’ between them but Magnus had longed for a date for a while. This was the best he was going to get. 

Alec flushed instantly and pushed one of the cups into Magnus’ hands without looking over to him. “I just thought it would be nice,” he whispered, taking a sip of his own cup and looking as if he was trying anything to appear casual and not embarrassed, like he was. 

Something in Magnus softened. “It is nice,” he agreed, pressing his shoulder gently into Alec’s.

They fell silent and neither of them seemed too inclined to find something to say. They just sat together, watching the creatures tumbling throughout the sky, both pretending to ignore the soft flush in Alec’s cheeks as Magnus leaned a little further into his side. 

Alec didn’t say a word when Magnus dropped his head completely, resting it in the crook of Alec’s neck. They had to have spent a few hours out there and it was the first time since the crash that Magnus felt like things weren’t so bad. 

Everything horrible was lingering just at the edge of Magnus’ thoughts but he tried to keep pushing that all away. He was alive. Alec’s shoulder was warm and soft. The sun, their new sun, was shining. Things were okay, for now. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus make a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can listen to this chapter [here](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter3.mp3) or read it on tumblr [here!](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627804934927253504/a-bit-of-space-36) Or just scroll down.

“Do you have anyone to miss you?” Magnus asked suddenly. The question had been weighing on Magnus’ mind for days and in the quiet moment he and Alec were sharing now, he finally decided to ask.

Across from him, Alec paused. He was reading through the manual for their ship, searching for tips about what might be wrong with it. The pod they had escaped from was made to function with solar panels but the panels didn’t seem inclined to work for them. Alec was trying to fix it, despite the fact that neither of them had backgrounds in engineering.

They’d both taken basic classes on it of course but nothing they’d learned seemed to help them with this. Magnus didn’t think there was much of a chance they’d be able to fix it but he couldn’t fault Alec for trying. It would dramatically change their situation if they had power. Best case scenario, they could contact someone. Worst case scenario, they’d have lights!

Still, to Magnus it seemed like they’d been irreversibly broken in the crash but he stopped himself from saying this out loud. Everyone needed some kind of hope.

Alec folded the manual and put it down, looking over to Magnus. “What do you mean?” he asked in response to Magnus’ question.

“At home,” Magnus clarified, hoping he wasn’t being too obvious with what he was really trying to get at. “Is there anyone waiting for you? You never really talk about your personal life, besides your siblings.” Really, Magnus was trying to ask if Alec was single. It wasn’t that Magnus thought it would be the most appropriate time to hit on him if he was but Magnus was curious.

They’d talked about their families a lot over the past few days. Magnus had told Alec about the short lived relationship he had with his biological family and he’d told Alec about Ragnor, Catarina and even Raphael.

Alec had mentioned his parents but he hadn’t seemed too inclined to share much about them. Instead, he talked about his siblings. He told Magnus about all three of them and he shared stories of them all when they’d been growing up. He hadn’t mentioned anyone romantic at all, even when Magnus had shared some stories about some of his more unfortunate dating experiences.

Frowning, Alec shrugged. “There’s not much to talk about besides them,” he murmured, his eyes flickering away from Magnus. His tone was suddenly a touch softer. “I had a fiancé once but I broke it off with her when I was approved for this mission.”

Magnus blinked, completely taken by the admission. A _fiancé_ was a rather big thing to not talk about at all. “Oh,” Magnus said finally, finding himself somewhat tongue tied. Clearly, Alec had pointedly not mentioned it before. “Didn’t love her enough to try to make it work?” he asked finally, trying to force his tone to remain light and casual. If he sounded as bewildered as he was by this news, he might scare Alec away from the topic completely.

“No,” Alec replied bluntly. He stared down unseeing at the manual and after a moment, he began flipping through the pages before he finally let the book drop, giving up the facade that he was actually paying attention to it. “It was an arranged marriage.” Alec said finally. “It didn’t seem worth it to go through with it when I was leaving anyway.” Alec looked over to Magnus and smiled a little bitterly. “No parents to disappoint in space.”

“Or on a deserted planet,” Magnus murmured. He was relieved when it made Alec laugh under his breath.

“What about you?” Alec asked, peering over at Magnus, clearly trying to sound just as casual. “Do you have anyone? Besides Ragnor, or unless-”

Magnus blinked at Alec, more caught off guard by that question than he had been by the _fiancé_ thing. He had spoken about Ragnor quite a bit and never clarified but still, the implication of him and Ragnor being together was funny enough that Magnus had a hard time not laughing in Alec’s face. “No, Ragnor and I were never together,” Magnus said, unable to completely get rid of the laugh in his tone. “-and there's no one else to mention.” Magnus continued.

He could have told Alec about Camille. They had been engaged once, much like Alec had been but that story did not end well and the last thing Magnus wanted to be doing here was thinking about Camille. If he thought about her along with everything else that was weighing on his mind, he just might lose it.

Alec nodded and Magnus thought for a moment that he looked relieved. Alec looked away before Magnus could really analyze the expression. “That’s… good,” he said finally. Before Magnus could question why exactly Alec was pleased by that, Alec was rising to his feet. “Are you hungry yet?” He asked without turning.

Magnus didn’t need to see his face to know that Alec was blushing but as Alec moved towards their rations, any warm comfortable feeling that had been in Magnus’ chest a moment before disappeared. They both knew they were running low on water already but neither of them said anything about it as Alec pulled out their food for the day.

“Yeah,” Magnus said, his voice a little tight as he eased himself upright. “Want to eat outside?”

It had become a tradition for them. They stayed inside most of the day, Alec working tirelessly on their broken ship, Magnus joining every once in a while but when they ate, they sat outside and pressed their shoulders together, pretending the touch was a little more accidental than it really was.

Today, Magnus leaned in more than he had any other day before, and Alec still didn’t comment on it.

They had been stranded on the surface of the planet for a few weeks, observing the wildlife on their newfound home from a far before they finally, accidentally, made contact. As much as Alec treated Magnus like an equal and not his subordinate, Magnus was sure Alec would have protested if Magnus had wanted to introduce himself to any of their alien companions on purpose.

Alec was still terrified the plants would kill them if they got too close. Neither he nor Magnus really knew how dangerous their new world was for them but Magnus, both stubborn and curious to a fault, thought it was worth it for the sake of discovery. Still, for Alec’s peace of mind, Magnus let his curiosity fester without indulging it.

They probably would have stayed away from everything forever or at least as long as possible but it turns out that Magnus wasn’t the only one who was curious. He and Alec were outside, enjoying the sunlight and the soft touches they exchanged without comment, when Alec suddenly let out a screech and scrambled to his feet.

He left Magnus alone and bewildered on the ground, his hand hovering in the air where it had been resting on Alec’s arm, his cheek still warmed by Alec’s shoulder. Magnus looked around confused. He knew if Alec was scrambling to get up, he should as well but Magnus couldn’t rise that fast. His chest was healing well and Alec was relatively sure he was out of danger. He was past the point of getting an infection and dying but he still couldn’t jump to his feet like that. Instead, Magnus froze, his eyes fixed on what Alec had seen.

There on the ground a few feet away from them was a small, curious looking creature. It was only about a foot tall and if Magnus looked past it’s odd gray skin and oblong face, it almost reminded him of a kangaroo. A hairless kangaroo with slanted eyes that didn’t quite look like eyes at all but a kangaroo nonetheless. The rest of its face was featureless, as was the rest of its body.

It looked like a kangaroo that a child had made out of putty, Magnus amended in his head. A child that had never seen a kangaroo and had never played with putty before.

Alec, now standing tense near the door of their ship, did not seem to find the creature as interesting as Magnus did. “Magnus-” he hissed between his teeth, sounding as if he was both trying to be quiet and trying to show Magnus how absolutely on edge he was. “Get up!” He inched a step towards Magnus, his hand outstretched to help him stand, his eyes fixed on the creature who had moved a little closer to Magnus.

Magnus ignored Alec’s hand. He held his breath and tried to hold himself as still as possible. The creature was clearly sizing Magnus up and moving, even to flee, didn’t sound like too good of an idea right now.

For a moment, Magnus and the creature simply stared at each other. The creature was cocking its head back and forth, as if it couldn’t really see Magnus when it was looking at him dead on. Magnus heard Alec say his name again but Magnus ignored him still. The creature, if it could hear Alec at all, also ignored him.

Slowly, Magnus lifted his hand and held it out, trying to hold it as steady as possible even if his finger were shaking somewhat. The creature scrambled back a step and for a moment, Magnus thought it was going to flee but then it bounded forward a few quick steps. It hovered around Magnus’ hand, checking him out with whatever senses it had before it seemed to decide it liked what Magnus was offering.

It pressed its soft, gooey skin against Magnus’ hand, nuzzling almost like a cat would. A soft clicking noise started instantly, resonating from somewhere in the creature's head. The lack of a mouth made the noise a little hard to place but Magnus thought it sounded pleased. It certainly didn’t seem like it was upset with Magnus’ presence.

“It’s friendly,” Magnus murmured, as he caught Alec’s horrified expression out of the corner of his eye. The creature nuzzled further into Magnus’ palm and Magnus had the urge to tilt his hand up and start petting it, but he restrained himself. It _was_ friendly - for now - but Magnus could already imagine what Alec would say if he tried to pet it and it turned on him. He didn’t want to lose his hand after all.

“You don’t know _what_ it is,” Alec finally snapped. He took a couple of cautious steps towards Magnus, reaching for his shoulder. Magnus let his hand drop a little, readying himself to let Alec help him to his feet but Alec’s touch never came.

The creature tilted it’s head up, looking as if it was wondering why Magnus had moved away. It seemed to notice Alec behind them and the moment it did, everything about it’s posture changed. One second, it was leaning towards the touch of Magnus’ hand and in the next, it sat back on its haunches. Before Magnus could even react, the creature's soft gooey face ripped apart, relieving a deep black hole.

Magnus scrambled for his ears instinctively, as an ear-piercing shriek ripped through the air. The sound shook Magnus so badly that he didn’t even realize the creature was the one making it, until the things mouth closed and the sound stopped all together.

As if nothing had even happened, the creature turned back to Magnus and found his leg, that same please clicking noise starting once again as it nuzzled into him.

Now on the ground, Alec whispered, panicked, “Magnus-” He had to have fallen when the creature screamed but Magnus hadn’t even realized. He hadn’t been able to think about anything, not with that horrible noise ringing in his ears.

Magnus didn’t need to look over to know that Alec was terrified - he could hear it in his voice and this time, Magnus didn’t think Alec was being overly cautious. Clearly, the creature has the capability to be unpleasant and not knowing exactly _how_ unpleasant it could get was unnerving to say the least.

It seemed happy as could be now that Alec wasn’t approaching them but that didn’t mean it would stay that way. Any moment, it could decide that it no longer liked something Magnus was doing and maybe then, it wouldn’t stop with a simple shriek.

Slowly, Magnus braced his free hand on the ground. When the creature didn’t react to his slow movements, Magnus started to ease himself up.

Alec was there almost instantly, grabbing Magnus’ elbow to help him. His eyes were locked on the creature all the while but the creature didn’t seem to mind Alec now that it had some part of Magnus’ body to curl into.

Magnus found himself in crouch. His chest ached in protest to his movements but he ignored it as best that he could. He waved Alec off silently and Alec seemed to get the hint because he backed away. This time, when Magnus stood and left the creature alone, it did not scream.

Instead, it twisted it’s head back and forth, as if it was trying to figure out where Magnus had gone and why.

“Come on,” Alec hissed softly, his voice barely audible. He grabbed Magnus’ arm and pulled him gently. Magnus didn’t protest going inside this time. Together, they backed up slowly until they reached the door of the ship.

The creature twisted around to look at them, it’s beady black unseeing eyes watching as they retreated. For a moment, it almost seemed like it was going to let them go.

Alec pushed Magnus inside the ship ahead of him, his jaw held tight in his mouth. He hadn’t looked more like Magnus’ captain since they’d crashed and of course, he’d make Magnus retreat to safety before himself, even though the creature had only seemed to dislike Alec.

Magnus ducked inside with Alec following quickly behind him. He heard Alec suck in a deep breath, one he had probably been holding since the creature had arrived, before he grabbed the crank to close the door. It had just started to close when the creature appeared on the other side, cocking its head curiously as it peered inside.

It looked at them for a moment, its face unreadable, before it jumped forward and hopped through the door. Once in, it cocked its head again as it looked around. Once it deemed nothing in the ship unacceptable, it seemed to find Magnus instantly. It took another few steps before Magnus felt it brushing up against his leg, resuming the subtle clicking sound from before.

“Shit,” Alec whispered, his breathy panic subdued with his attempts to be quiet.

They tried for the next twenty minutes to get it to go back outside and stay there. When Magnus moved towards the door, the creature followed him, and when Magnus rushed back inside, it followed him there too. Alec couldn’t close the door quick enough to lock it out, unless he wanted to lock Magnus outside as well. No matter how quickly he tried to pull the crank, they didn’t have power. The door inched closed as slow as it wanted.

When it became obvious the creature was not going to stay outside on it’s own, Alec tried using his jacket to block the doorway the moment Magnus darted inside, but the creature screeched that same horrendous sound the moment it realized it couldn’t follow Magnus. Alec dropped the jacket instantly and the creature continued to scream at him, its horrible face torn open, until Alec leapt aside and let it back in.

“I kinda like it,” Magnus said finally. He slumped down on the hard couch he’d come to call his bed, watching as the creature nuzzled into his leg, as happy as could be.

Alec stood by the open door, his back to the wall, looking like he was ready to rip his hair out. “Yeah?” he asked, his voice strangled.

“Yeah,” Magnus said, reaching down to present his hand to the creature again. It seemed to like his legs when it couldn’t reach his hand, but it liked Magnus’ hands most of all. “It reminds me of my cat, Chairman.” Magnus murmured softly.

Alec scoffed. “You must have had a really ugly cat.”

“I did.” They both fell silent for a moment, before Magnus drew his hand back and ventured carefully, “I guess we have a pet now?”

Alec stared at Magnus like he’d gone crazy. “A pet that hates me?” Alec demanded. “A pet that tried to rip my face off when I walked up to you?” 

Magnus rolled his eyes. “It didn’t try to rip your face off.” Magnus had gotten to know Alec a lot better over the last couple of weeks, but he hadn’t pegged Alec as _dramatic_. That was meant to be Magnus’ role. “You just need to bond,” Magnus continued, waving his hand vaguely in the creature’s direction.

“Bond?” Alec stared at Magnus incredulously, as if he was trying to determine if Magnus was being serious or not. “Magnus, you have no clue what that creature wants from you! It could be radioactive! It could be toxic. It could be slowly killing you and we’d never know until you got sick or - or it could turn on you and take your hand off-”

“It’s not going to hurt me,” Magnus said confidently. Although Alec was right, it was a little too late to admit that - Magnus was already touching it and he couldn’t take that back. If the creature was radioactive or toxic or dangerous, then the damage was likely already done. Besides, the creature had made it very obvious it was not going to leave. “It’s going to need a name,” Magnus proposed, looking up to Alec for help.

Alec fell silent. For the first time since the crash, he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here, stranded with anyone else but Magnus. “You can’t seriously think we’re letting it stay in here,” he said, his expression blank with an astonished type of inconceivability.

Magnus was rather used to people giving him that kind of look. He shrugged. “You’re welcome to come pick it up and kick it out.”

Alec didn’t move. He stood in the doorway for a long while, his fists clenched at his sides, but then he began to move towards the table in the corner, eyeing the creature like he was scared it was about to rear back and pounce on him at any moment. The creature stayed put and didn’t pay any mind to Alec at all as Alec carefully sat down.

“Apollo,” Magnus said, a few minutes later. “I think we should call it Apollo.”

Despite Alec’s endless discomfort about Apollo turning their ship into its home, they did learn to coexist eventually. Apollo, seeming to realize Alec wasn’t trying to get between him and Magnus anymore, slowly started to warm up to Alec. It ventured over to him carefully at first until it felt comfortable enough to nuzzle up to his legs, jump into his lap and mess up the paperwork and the books Alec had sprawled across the desk.

Apollo didn’t stay with them constantly. It would leave during the day, hopping out the door to run off into the undergrowth and do whatever it was that it did without them. The first time it left, Alec had been thrilled, but his joy had been dashed a few hours later when it reappeared at the door and began screaming until Magnus let it back inside.

Apollo made it very clear when it wanted to leave and very clear when it wanted to come back. If it was inside the ship when they closed the door to go to sleep, they both knew that they would be woken up by that horrible sound in the early morning when Apollo had decided it wanted to leave again.

Magnus thought it was charming. He also thought it was a wonderful opportunity to study Apollo in more detail and try to figure out exactly what it was. Magnus didn’t have his field journals or any of his research equipment but he did have log books that he had started using to take notes and record his observations.

Magnus couldn’t help but rub it in a little. He noted specifically that neither he nor Alec had gotten sick because of Apollo’s presence, and nor had either of them been hurt so far. His notes were a little useless because Magnus knew he wouldn’t forget anything he was writing down, but that wasn’t really why he kept the journals. He knew that the odds of him and Alec getting rescued were slim. He wanted to leave something behind to prove they were here.

Alec thought that if they could get the solar panels working again, they might be able to contact someone for help. _Might_ was the operative word and even if they could radio home, it would take a while for anyone to reach them. They were very far out in space and even if there was hope of rescue, it would not come soon enough. They had about one day of stored water left, and once it was gone, they would have to begin filtering what they could find outside. Alec was keen to remind them both that there was a high chance there was something in the water that would not agree with them. He was ever the optimist.

Magnus wrote it all down so if they died and failed to write again, it would be clear why. On the next spare page in his log book, he wrote about him and Alec. He wrote about the crash. He wrote about their ship and the mission they’d been on. He explained what had gone wrong and he wrote about what he and Alec had been doing the past few weeks, stranded on the surface of the strange planet.

He indulged himself and wrote about how charming it was that Alec’s hair had grown out enough to fall across his eyes. He wrote about Alec taking care of him, nursing Magnus back to health when he was hurt. He wrote about them sitting shoulder-to-shoulder outside, seeking each other’s body heat without ever talking about it, and at the bottom of the page, selfishly, he wrote to Ragnor.

If they did die here, it was very unlikely that anyone would find their ship or any of the stuff they’d left behind. It was even less likely that Ragnor would ever see these journals or the things Magnus had written but Magnus couldn’t help himself.

 _‘You said you’d sue them. I hope you can, if there’s no body found.’_ It was a morbid thing to start with, and it was also not true. Both he and Ragnor knew that Magnus had signed his life away when he’d agreed to join this mission. He had scrawled his name at the bottom of a contract, acknowledging that he understood the risks of space travel and that he understood he might never come home.

It was an easy thing to sign at the time. It was a formality. Magnus hadn’t actually thought he’d never come home again, but here he was facing that very real possibility. Ragnor had agreed to watch his cat, until he came home. Magnus wondered what he would do with Chairman now. If he’d keep him out of obligation or if he’d find a new home for the animal he’d never really gotten along with in the first place.

Magnus wondered if they’d have a funeral for him, without his body. He wondered who would take the things from his loft or if they’d just sell most of it. Magnus knew for a fact Ragnor would undervalue the books he’d collected.

At that thought, Magnus didn’t feel much like writing much anymore but he brought his pen back to the page and scribbled a few final words, devoid of the mocking sarcasm with which he normally wrote to Ragnor with.

 _‘I love you. I hope you weren’t too upset when I didn’t come home. Take care of my cat.’_ Magnus pressed his lips together as he read it back. It didn’t feel right. If this was the last thing he’d ever say to Ragnor, whether Ragnor read it or not, Magnus felt like he should say something better. He felt like he should have something more prepared. Something more substantial.

Frowning, Magnus repeated at the bottom, ‘ _I love you_.’ Then, he signed his name and flipped the page, before he handed the book to Alec.

Neither of them had said it out loud, but they both knew their chances of survival were slim when their water ran out. Magnus considered that, maybe, that was why Alec stopped fighting him on Apollo being there. It didn’t really seem to matter much anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus do a bit of exploring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can listen to this chapter [here](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter4.mp3) or read it on tumblr [here.](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627804936717172736/a-bit-of-space-46)

Magnus laid sprawled in his seat, watching Alec pour the last of their water into the plastic cups they had. Soon, they would have to venture outside and search for more water, unless they favored dying in the week, but neither he nor Alec had said it out loud yet. Not saying it made the threat seem far less real but Magnus was pretty sure neither of them had been able to think about anything else all day.

Magnus didn’t want to die. He didn’t want Alec to die but that wasn’t exactly a decision they could make. Magnus also didn’t want to spend what could be his last day alive thinking about death but so far, he’d failed on that front.

Magnus looked over to Alec and watched him for a few long moments. On Earth, his distractions had been plentiful but here, all Magnus had was Alec. Magnus didn’t want to use Alec as a distraction. He’d never consider Alexander that… disposable but they’d gotten closer over the last few weeks. Their touches had lingered longer and longer. Magnus had caught Alec looking at him more than once and every time, he’d wondered what Alec had been thinking about.

Magnus had pondered their situation quite a bit and he’d also considered what might have happened, had they not crashed here. He wondered if he would have asked Alec out or if things would have been too hectic. He wondered if Alec would have said yes. He wondered if Alec was even interested, regardless of what scenario they were in.

Had their probable death not been on Magnus’ mind, he might not have said anything but knowing they could both be dead in a day's time - well, it seemed to put things into perspective. Magnus didn’t have a reason not to ask now. If Alec reacted badly, they were going to die anyway. If he didn’t, then Magnus knew.

Magnus opened his mouth before he could even decide exactly how he was going to word what he wanted to ask. “Have you ever been interested in men, Alec?” He ended up saying, causing Alec to nearly spill the last of their water as he jolted and looked up to him in shock.

Alec stammered, his eyes wide and his face pale at the question. “I mean-” Alec began but it was clear he didn’t know what to say. He tripped over his tongue and then stopped speaking completely. He grabbed Magnus’ cup and thrust it out for him to take, his panicked eyes not making contact.

Magnus reached for his cup and took it, choosing to spare Alec and explain a little more before the man had a heart attack. “I’ve just been thinking recently. I wanted to ask you on a date, when we got home.” Magnus admitted with a soft laugh. “I was just wondering if you would have said yes. I didn’t want to offend you by insinuating anything. I know you’re my superior and it’s a little inappropriate while we’re both deployed but… I’m not sure that matters anymore.” Magnus shrugged, softening his words with the motion as he took a small sip of the luke warm water Alec had handed him.

He should be trying to savor the water. It was the last clean water they had but his mind couldn’t be farther away from it. Every ounce of his attention was fixed on Alec. Still, he took another sip. He was thirsty. They had been trying to make what little they had last, but they were both dehydrated now. They had to be.

Maybe that was why Magnus’ words were trickling off his tongue so easily.

Alec stayed silent for a long moment, so long that Magnus was starting to think Alec wasn’t going to answer him at all. Finally, Alec spoke, his words soft and thoughtful. “I would have said yes,” he murmured under his breath. “I would have liked to go on a date with you very much.”

They both lapsed into silence as they took in Alec’s response. Somehow, it hurt. That had been the response Magnus had been hoping to hear and yet, it didn’t make him happy like he thought it would. Instead, the silence around them felt mournful.

They would not go home. Magnus would not be able to ask Alec out on a date and Alec would not be able to say yes. As the silence stretched on, Magnus thought the moment would leave them there but then Alec was speaking again, surprisingly Magnus with the hesitant hopefulness in his tone.

“I have found myself…” Alec fumbled with his words, his hands twisting nervously in his lap. “-appreciating men every once in a while.” His eyes flickered away.

It took Magnus a moment to understand the sudden shift in the conversation, that Alec was answering his _first_ question, when Magnus had asked if he liked men.

Alec cleared his throat, his eyes darting back up to Magnus. “Especially being stuck with someone who - uh - looks like you.” His eyes darted away again, drawn down to the water in his cup that he had yet to touch.

Slowly, a grin stretched across Magnus’ face. _Flirting,_ he realized. Alec was trying to flirt with him. Magnus wasn’t going to point out that describing himself being ‘stuck’ with him wasn’t very flattering. Magnus more thought they’d been gifted such an ample amount of each other's company.

“Would you like to do a more in-depth exploration, Alexander?” Magnus asked, not even caring how much of a _line_ it sounded like. On Earth, in a bar, perhaps he’d be embarrassed that he couldn’t come up with anything better to say, but here, with Alec, it didn’t seem to matter.

Alec’s mouth stretched into a slow smile. He looked up, scanning Magnus’ face for a sign that he was kidding. No part of Magnus was kidding about this. “Are you suggesting we-”

Magnus nodded before Alec could even finish his sentence. “If you’d like.”

For a few, long moments, they stared at each other. Alec was completely still, barely breathing, but his eyes roamed Magnus’ face, as if waiting for Magnus to burst out laughing and announce that he didn’t really mean it. When Magnus did no such thing, Alec shifted forward.

He didn’t have to do much shifting in the small space before he was there, hesitating in front of Magnus as his eyes darted between Magnus’ eyes and his lips, waiting for him to give him yet another cue that _yes_ , this was what he meant.

Magnus moved first. He grabbed Alec gently by his undershirt and he pulled him forward until they were both pressed together, crammed on the small couch that Magnus had been sleeping on.

Alec froze, his eyes wide. Magnus could feel his heart pounding in his chest where it rested under Magnus’ palm. Magnus wondered if it was nervousness or fear that made Alec’s heart beat so fast but Alec had made it clear he wanted this and Magnus wasn’t going to deny him, unless he changed his mind.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Magnus murmured, giving Alec a chance to flee if he wanted. It wasn’t as if he could go far but Magnus would let him, should he choose.

Alec nodded, his breath close enough to brush across the side of Magnus’ face.

That was all Magnus needed to move forward and close the distance between them. Their lips met gently, barely brushing each other as they both explored the feeling. Magnus’ eyes fell shut as he felt Alec move, soft and unsure against him. Magnus wondered vaguely how many people Alec had kissed before, if it was inexperience or if it was just him that was making the man so nervous.

Magnus pulled him a little closer. One of Alec’s hands went gently to his side, pointedly avoiding Magnus’ mostly healed chest as he touched him. The gesture sent a pang of tenderness through Magnus. Even now, Alec was careful not to do something that would hurt him.

They parted a few moments later, both of them needing to breathe. Somehow, they’d moved until Alec was completely above Magnus and Magnus found the sight of his breathless face hovering over him jarring. He didn’t even know when they’d moved. He’d just lost himself in the kiss and now, they were here.

Alec met his eyes again and this time, there was no hesitation.

He looked determined as he tipped forward and pressed his lips firmly against Magnus’ own, the touch different from the soft explorative kiss they’d shared a moment before. The position was a little uncomfortable. There wasn’t room for the both of them where they were but Magnus couldn’t think of any of that with Alec’s mouth on his.

Alec took control now. His tongue parted Magnus’ lips and when Magnus didn’t push him away for it or whatever else Alec had expected him to do if he didn’t like it, Alec moved closer, growing bolder and bolder as Magnus reciprocated.

Magnus had imagined what it would feel like to kiss Alec for a long time. He had daydreamed about it when they first met and he had thought about it more and more often in these last few weeks, desperate for any sort of touch, even in his head. After all, Alec was exceptionally handsome. How could Magnus not have considered it? But even in Magnus’ fantasies, he hadn’t imagined how soft Alec’s lips would feel against his or how nice his strong arms would feel framing him.

Magnus never believed people who described their first kiss with someone as something magical. He always thought it was bullshit but kissing Alec, Magnus could understand what people were talking about for the first time. It wasn’t fireworks but it was the way Alec’s mouth felt perfect against his. It was the way that even as cramped as they both were, they fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces finding each other.

Maybe, it was just because it had been months since Magnus had kissed another human being. Maybe, it was because they were both dehydrated and preparing themselves to die but either way, Magnus wasn’t going to complain about how perfect Alec felt against him. Nor did he protest when Alec pressed closer, stroking some fire in Magnus that he hadn’t even realized had been growing until now. The angle was a little awkward but Magnus had done a lot more than kiss people in far less suitable places. He could make this work. He could make _anything_ work with Alec.

It was just then that Apollo appeared in the doorway of the ship and, angered by the lack of attention Magnus didn’t instantly give it, Apollo paused for a moment, watching before it let out a characteristic high pitched screech.

Alec sprang back instantly. His elbow slammed into Magnus’ side, replacing any warm fuzzy feeling that had been bubbling in Magnus’ chest with a stab of pain. Any perfect synchronicity they’d had disappeared as Alec scrambled to stand.

Magnus followed Alec’s eyes over to the creature in the doorway. Apollo stared for a few moments, watching the commotion before it seemed to realize Magnus was free, exactly like it had wanted. Apollo bounded forward and scrambled to get on the couch, which it couldn’t quite do without Magnus’ assistance, and then it nuzzled comfortably into Magnus’ side.

Alec quirked an eyebrow, “Still don’t regret letting it stay?”

Magnus frowned, looking down to the creature before looking back up to Alec. “We could still-”

“No,” Alec said instantly, as he moved to sit down. “I’m not interested in getting bitten because I’m trying to kiss you.”

Magnus didn’t point out that it didn’t seem like Apollo had teeth. He wasn’t sure Alec would be comforted by that. “Oh, so I’m not worth it?” he questioned, smirking a little as Alec ran a hand through his messy hair and tried to straighten it out. He looked delightfully rumpled by their activity, even if they’d been cut short.

Alec glanced over at him, his eyes flicking up and down Magnus once. “You’re worth almost everything,” he murmured. “But you’re not worth that. That thing would rip my face off to keep me away from you.” Alec eyed the creature at Magnus' side as he spoke.

Magnus liked Apollo. He _hadn’t_ regretted letting it stay. It was scientifically interesting and it offered Magnus a semblance of animalistic companionship that he sorely missed. But in that moment, Magnus did regret it a little. He hadn’t imagined his new companion would be the one _cock-blocking_ him the first time he finally managed to get Captain Alexander Lightwood to kiss him.

“That was my first time kissing a man,” Alec admitted softly, after a few long minutes of silence.

Magnus looked over at Alec and blinked slowly. He had wondered when they were kissing if Alec was inexperienced but somehow, he hadn’t considered that Magnus’ gender might be why. He might have approached the conversation a little differently, a little softer, if he’d known but Alec didn’t look too upset by it. “Was it good?” Magnus asked simply.

Alec looked up at him and nodded instantly. His cheeks were still flushed and he was biting his lip in thought but he seemed sure of his answer. “It was really good,” he said finally.

Magnus smiled to himself. “It was good for me too,” he assured and even as they both fell silent again, the smile didn’t fade from Magnus’ face.

“So uh- we should go get water,” Alec said, his words breaking through any exceptionally mushy thoughts Magnus was having.

Magnus nodded. _Water_ , right. They did need water but that didn’t mean Magnus was eager to go. Somehow, the reminder of their potential death stung a bit more after what they’d just done. Had it been up to him, Magnus would have rather spent the rest of the evening kissing Alec but it wasn’t up to him.

The reminder of water brought reality back into perspective. Dying of dehydration didn’t sound like a great way to spend the evening but Magnus supposed neither did dying of toxic water.

There wasn’t much use dwelling on it either way. They couldn’t change what would happen.

Apollo followed them as they trudged through the thick, translucent undergrowth. It wasn’t Magnus’ first time seeing the odd plant-like material up close, but it was his first time maneuvering through it, having it scrape across his unprotected skin. It was sticky in a way that Magnus hadn’t expected and when it touched him, it clung to his skin for a moment before it finally pulled away from him when he kept walking.

Magnus had put on his bloodied jacket, the one he’d been wearing when they crashed, but the sleeves only came down a little past Magnus’ elbows, leaving the rest of his arms bare for the plants to touch. The dried blood itched where it scraped against Magnus’ skin and Magnus didn’t quite like the reminder of what had happened to them, but he supposed it was better than a full-body allergic reaction, better than his skin blistering and erupting in hives.

Alec seemed to think that was what was going to happen to them. He was walking in front of Magnus, his arms held up carefully, pushing low-hanging leaves and branches away with his covered elbows. He was being a bit more careful than Magnus was but Magnus had been careful at first too. Now, he’d touched the stupid plants enough times that if he was going to have an adverse reaction, it was going to happen no matter how careful Magnus was from here on out.

Behind them, Apollo hopped at Magnus’ heels like a puppy. Magnus thought Apollo seemed excited that they had gone so far from the ship, venturing out together where Apollo normally went alone. They’d seen Apollo duck into here many times when it disappeared but they’d never followed.

“You’re not curious?” Magnus asked as he accidentally brushed his hand against another oval-shaped translucent leaf. He shook it away with a grimace until it finally unstuck.

“What?” Alec said without looking back over his shoulder. Magnus knew he wanted to get back to the relative safety of their ship as quickly as possible. “You don’t want to stop and smell the roses?” Magnus continued, watching as Alec pushed away every plant he could, marching through them without even glancing down once. He acted like he’d seen all of this before, as if these leaves were nothing but mundane for him.

At that, Alec did pause for a second. He turned to look back to Magnus, pressing his lips together disapprovingly. “No, I don’t.” Alec’s eyes darted to Apollo, who’d halted at Magnus’ side, cocking its head like it was trying to understand why they’d stopped moving. “I was having fun before-” Alec scoffed, a soft laugh coming from his lips. He turned forward again, starting to walk before finishing his sentence. “-a little rose came to interrupt us. If you’re asking if I want to loiter out here until something kills us, the answer is still no.”

Magnus was surprised by the sudden ease with which Alec spoke. Alec had been avoiding eye contact and blushing at the mere thought that Magnus wanted to kiss him, but now that they had, he seemed assured that Magnus did in fact like him - or at least, was as interested in kissing him as Alec was in kissing Magnus back.

“Well, for the record, I was having fun too. Maybe, we could try again later if-” Magnus trailed off as Alec ducked out of the undergrowth and stepped out onto the bank of the lake they had seen off in the distance.

Magnus shoved the leaves away until he managed to get out of their reach and to Alec’s side. His eyes followed Alec’s and looked out across the almost deceptively normal looking lake.

“If?” Alec asked softly, but Magnus didn’t answer him, because as he looked across the water, he noticed that they weren’t alone. There was something standing there, on the opposite shore. It was large enough that Magnus had to peer up through the sunlight to look at it and so blue in colour that it reminded him of the sky back home on an especially crisp, clear day. He didn’t understand what he was looking for a moment at until he glanced down at Apollo and realized.

He was looking at a giant, pale blue version of his little friend and all of a sudden, Magnus could see how Apollo would grow. He squinted through the light again and he could see Apollo’s soft globby skin that would harden and shift, turning leathery and sprouting talon-like appendages. He could see the pale gray that would shift in hues until his little friend was just as blue as the creature Magnus was looking at.

Magnus could also see four or five little Apollo’s clustered around the big one, splashing in and out of the water and chattering to each other with the same clicking noise that Apollo used to try to speak to them.

Apollo paid no mind to the others, choosing instead to hop around them, excitedly ducking into the water before jumping back out and darting through their feet, chattering softly all the while.

“It’s family?” Alec asked, clearly putting together what Magnus had.

Magnus frowned, watching the creatures in the distance. They were playing and jumping but they stayed clustered together all the while, one not straying more than a few feet from the others. “Apollo doesn’t seem too interested in them.” Magnus murmured.

It was clear the creatures in the water were together. They functioned as a unit but Apollo had always been alone. Magnus looked down to their little creature and frowned. Apollo had always been alone, except for them. Apollo would leave but it always came back to them. Apollo always followed them. Apollo always chattered to them and nuzzled them and tried to be as close to them and what they were doing as possible.

“It doesn’t have a family,” Magnus announced suddenly. “That’s why it cried when we tried to lock it out.”

Alec scoffed. “I wouldn’t describe it as a _cry_.”

“Apollo imprinted on us.” Magnus continued, ignoring Alec’s protest. “Like a duckling.” Magnus crouched, feeling a wave of tenderness come over him as Apollo darted forward instantly to press into his outstretched hand. “We’re it’s family.” Magnus insisted, rubbing at the doughy skin.

Alec rolled his eyes. “ _You’re_ its family. It puts up with me when I don’t get between you two.” He reached for the water container on his belt, clearly finished dwelling on the topic. “Are you going to help me before that thing comes over to maul us, or are you going to make me do this myself?”

Magnus glanced back up at the creatures in the distance. “They don’t seem to care about us at all,” he noted, ignoring the fact that that clearly wasn’t Alec’s point. “It looks like they’re sun bathing,” he noted.

It did. The large creature was standing still, basing in the sunlight. The smaller ones seemed more preoccupied with playing but still, they were standing out in the open water where the sunlight was the brightest.

“Very interesting,” Alec grumbled, as he struggled to hold the filter in the top of the container and duck it underwater to start the collection process.

Magnus rolled his eyes. He crouched down next to Alec, pulling his hand away from Apollo as he reached to hold the container, so Alec could focus on the filter. Alec hit a button on the device after they were settled and Magnus watched as the water started to slowly move through the tube and then spill out into their container.

Magnus’ face scrunched up. It didn’t quite look like water. It was close but something about the way it caught the light in the container seemed off. Something about the color looked a little wrong, like the saturation had been turned up all the way.

“We’ll do it a couple of times,” Alec muttered. “Just to be safe.”

Magnus nodded in agreement. They sat there in silence for a moment, listening to the sound of water spilling into plastic, until Alec asked softly, “What were you saying about them?”

Magnus glanced up and a smile came across his lips. “Look.” He put the container down. Now, it was heavy enough that it wouldn’t tip over, freeing Magnus to point across the lake. “See what they’re doing?” He asked.

Magnus didn’t think Alec was actually interested in what the creatures were doing or what Magnus thought about it. He seemed too preoccupied with his own thoughts to care, but maybe they both needed something to talk about that wasn’t their survival and the fact that they might die.

Twenty minutes later, with two full containers of water, they trudged back to their ship, leaving Apollo somewhere behind them. The filter had changed the colour of the water to something slightly less concerning the more times they ran the water through it, and that was promising, but not knowing what it was filtering out in first place didn’t sit well with either of them.

Had their ship been functioning, Magnus could have tested the water for contaminants. He could have checked for toxins and all the alien microbes that Magnus really didn’t want to think about. He knew Alec had been trying to get the ship working. It would have been a great time for it to magically power up but it seemed like everyday fixing it was becoming less and less of a reality.

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Magnus murmured, noticing Alec’s hesitant expression.

“Yeah,” Alec agreed, though he still frowned as he glanced down at his container. They were both thirsty. They _needed_ water, but neither of them rushed to grab cups and neither of them commented on the fact that they didn’t.

It was nearly an hour later when Alec finally grabbed a cup and poured himself a small sip. He didn’t spit it out right away and when Magnus tried it, it tasted like water.

It was deceptive that way.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec gets sick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can listen to this chapter [here](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter5.mp3) or read it on tumblr [here.](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627804938399088640/a-bit-of-space-56)

Apollo had reappeared by the time they got sick. Magnus felt it first. He and Alec had been stretched out, talking aimlessly when Magnus felt something unsettling in his stomach for the first time. He didn’t say anything, brushing it off as hunger pains that had become normal when only eating the nutritional blocks they did. Then, it happened again and this time, Alec heard it. 

He looked over to Magnus and frowned. “Do you feel okay?” He asked, a slight panic in his voice. Magnus had gotten him to relax a little but all of a sudden, he looked like he was terrified Magnus was going to keel over and die. 

Magnus nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He waved his hand in Alec’s direction, brushing off his concern. The truth was, he _didn’t_ feel fine. He didn’t quite feel sick, but he felt… odd. He felt like he _might_ get sick but that wasn’t enough to worry Alec about. 

It was only a few minutes later that Alec himself sat up. He stared into the distance, wide eyed, a different kind of panic showing on his face now. 

“Are you-“ Magnus began, but before he could finish his sentence, Alec was on his feet. He rushed through the crack in the door of their ship and disappeared outside.

Apollo bounded after him, clearly curious about where Alec was going so quick. Magnus followed after Apollo, stepping outside just in time to see Alec bend over and projectile vomit all over the ground. 

Magnus, in comparison to how Alec was reacting to the water, still felt great. He counted his blessings but kept that to himself. He didn’t think rubbing it in would make Alec feel any better. When Alec finally stopped puking, Magnus approached him slowly. He placed a hand gently on Alec’s back. “You okay?” 

“Yeah,” Alec grumbled, carefully straightening out, one hand pressed against the wall of the ship for balance. He looked decidedly _not_ okay but Magnus didn’t point this out. He squinted at Magnus. “You don’t feel sick?” 

Magnus shrugged. “I felt… a little uneasy, but-“ He glanced at the mess on the ground, grimacing. “-not like that.” He frowned, looking back to Alec. “You feel better now?” 

Slowly, Alec nodded. “I think so.” He wasn’t actively throwing up anymore, but he still looked pale and queasy. 

“Come lay inside,” Magnus said, reaching for Alec’s hand. “You can use the empty bucket if you need to throw up again.”

For a moment, Alec looked like he was going to argue, but then his shoulders sagged and he simply nodded, his clammy hand clutching Magnus’ as he was led back inside. 

Magnus made Alec lay down. He put the bucket somewhere close and tried to persuade Alec to eat some food, so that there was something lining his stomach in case he threw up again. Magnus only wished he had fresh water to give him but that wasn’t going to happen. 

“It’s pay back,” Magnus murmured eventually. He’d settled on the floor next to Alec, pretending the small room didn’t smell of vomit, sweat and sickness. “You had to take care of me when we crashed. I have to take care of you now.” 

Alec’s eyes fluttered open. He looked over at Magnus blearily. “I can take care of myself,” he mumbled, sounding vaguely offended. “You don’t have to.” 

Magnus hummed as Alec’s eyes fell shut again. His breathing slowed and he drifted into sleep, only to groan a few minutes later, roll over and heave into the bucket. 

Magnus grabbed the bucket when he was done and he went to dump the contents outside. Alec was too tired to protest.

Alec was sick for nearly five days. Magnus was worried about him, but he was also reassured by the fact that Magnus himself felt fine. Well, _fine-ish_. Whatever was affecting Alec so strongly had only mildly upset Magnus’ stomach, which was good news. If something in the water was toxic to them, Magnus’ body would be reacting just as strongly.

Still, Alec didn’t seem too comforted to hear that. 

Magnus didn’t blame him. He would be grumpy if he was throwing up for five days straight too. The first day, Alec wanted to be left alone. He seemed like he was trying to spare Magnus from taking care of him, even though he could barely sit up by himself without vomiting. The second day, Magnus sat by Alec’s head and ran his fingers through Alec’s hair as he slept. When Alec woke up, Magnus didn’t stop and Alec didn’t complain. 

The third day, Alec had leaned back into Magnus’ chest and let Magnus hold him. The fourth day, they had laid tangled in each other for hours, any hesitation on Alec’s part wiped away by the fact that he felt so sick and desperate for comfort. 

On the fifth day, Magnus decided to be bold. He moved to stand up and get them both something to drink. They had to reconcile that the water was making Alec sick but it wasn’t killing him like dehydration would, so Alec had to keep drinking it. When he pulled away, he was surprised to see Alec pout. 

It was an adorable expression on Alec’s normally very serious face and Magnus couldn’t help but lean it and kiss it. They hadn’t kissed since the first night, when they’d been rudely interrupted and they hadn’t talked about it either. Neither of them had said if they wanted it to be a trend that continued. 

Magnus pulled away, watching Alec’s face for any signs of discomfort or, worse, regret. This kiss was different from before. There was something domestic in kissing Alec while he was sick, something that made it clear Magnus was kissing him with no other ulterior motive in mind. Half of him was sure that this was the moment where Alec would tell him that it was too far. He was sure Alec was about to tell him that this wasn’t okay, that he had changed his mind, but Alec just smiled. 

Then, he spoke, “You have very bad timing. I probably taste terrible.” 

Magnus rolled his eyes but he smiled as he reached for the water. A lot more kisses came after that and it turns out that neither of them really minded. 

By the sixth day, Alec’s body seemed to have reached a tentative agreement with the water. He still felt ill, but he wasn’t throwing up every few minutes and dry heaving when there was nothing left. It was a drastic improvement. 

Magnus half-expected the kisses to stop now that Alec was on his feet and the haze of sickness had worn off, but they didn’t. Almost as soon as Alec was up and about again, he leaned in to kiss Magnus and then looked a little embarrassed after, as if he thought Magnus could possibly tell him no.

There was no universe in which Magnus would dislike Alec kissing him. After that, it was just a thing. Their thing. They kissed a lot. Kisses, touches, heated looks. Magnus wasn’t sure if they were together or if something like that even mattered when they were the only two people on the entire planet, but they kissed a lot and at night, they curled up in each other’s arms. Sometimes, they held hands like they were far younger than they really were. 

Magnus had never had this type of romance before. The only person he had ever seriously dated was Camille, and she vehemently did not like hand holding or cuddling. In fact, she didn’t like affection at all but Alec seemed to love it, even if he blushed every time Magnus reached out to grab his hand and reel him close. 

Magnus didn’t think Alec had ever had this kind of romance either. Alec had mentioned that he had once been engaged, but he hadn’t seemed too enthusiastic about that fact. He had admitted that he’d never let himself kiss a man before. Maybe that was what made this work for him; it was new, it was exciting and there was no better place to let go of your fear of rejection than in space, alone with one man who was more than willing to accept whatever Alec had to offer. 

Still, Magnus hoped he was more to Alec than just something to pass the time, someone to experiment with. He hoped that, even if they’d still been on Earth, Alec would have liked him. He hoped that Alec meant it when he said he’d have accepted his proposal of a date. 

Magnus liked to pretend he believed that was true. There was no use dwelling on ifs and maybes. They were here. They were not home and if being here made Alec like Magnus, then Magnus wasn’t going to complain or bother asking useless questions to make himself feel better. 

They were here and they had each other. That had to be enough. 

Once Alec was well again, he threw himself into trying to fix the ship. Magnus had assumed that they had both given up trying, but apparently Alec had not. In Magnus’ head, he had imagined nursing Alec back to health for them to spend all their time curled together, making out and adventuring back to the lake to collect water, if only to survive one more day. 

Apparently, Alec had imagined Magnus nursing him back to health so that Alec could then spend all his time fiddling with solar panels and flicking through books he’d already read ten times. Every once in a while, he would look up and spare Magnus a glance, sometimes a kiss, before he was back to focusing on a bunch of inanimate wires. 

Magnus admired Alec’s endless determination but, really, if there was any time to relax and enjoy some time off, it was now. They were quite literally the only people on this planet and nobody knew they were here. They hadn’t died from the crash, from the atmosphere, or from the water. They deserved some time to enjoy themselves and yet, Alec had found something besides Magnus to occupy himself with, something that very much resembled work.

Magnus tried to be supportive. When Alec thought he was on to something, Magnus would nod in agreement. When Alec said he was sure their solar panels weren’t completely broken, Magnus tried not to complain as Alec spent the rest of the day toying with them and hardly looking up. 

At least Apollo still liked spending time with Magnus but even then, Magnus’ alien friend seemed to be growing older and more independent before Magnus’ eyes. It had gotten bigger since they had found it. Magnus could see the gray around its eyes turning into a light blue. It still seemed to adore Magnus but more recently, it kept its distance.

Apollo spent more and more time away from the ship, only coming back at night to curl into Magnus’ side and then disappear early sometime in the morning. Magnus was being neglected and that feeling was only amplified by the fact that Magnus was slowly going out of his mind with nothing to do. 

Alec busied himself with the ruins of their ship. Apollo adventured out into the undergrowth every day and Magnus had nothing to do. He had filled his notebooks with sketches of Apollo. He’d reorganized all their supplies and read every training manual onboard from back to front. Alec said he could help him with repairs if he wanted, but Magnus declined the offer. 

Sure, it would be nice if their ship had power, but it was a long shot that Magnus had given up on a while ago. For all intents and purposes, they were offline and Magnus imagined they would stay that way.

That’s why he had Alec repeat himself one morning when Alec woke Magnus from his half-asleep haze by saying something incomprehensible.

“It worked,” Alec repeated, as Magnus stared blankly at him. 

Alec looked over to Magnus. Magnus wasn’t sure what he expected to see on Alec’s face, but the blank shock he saw there did nothing to illuminate what Alec meant. Slowly, Alec leaned back. He pointed to the control panel that had been dark since they’d crashed and there, Magnus saw one lone, red light. 

It was lit. 

Magnus jumped out of his seat, scrambling over to Alec. His eyes scanned the rest of the dark console, asking, “Can we use the radio?” 

Alec shook his head slowly. “There’s not enough power to do anything, but I thought, maybe, I could at least get one of the solar panels working. So, I went and set one outside and plugged it in to see if anything would happen and-” Alec trailed off but Magnus didn’t need him to explain any further. 

“And it worked,” Magnus stated, his eyes wide. Some part of him still didn’t realize what that meant. They could fix the rest of their solar panels. They could get their ship back online. They could call someone-

Magnus’ thoughts reared to a stop. He recalled the thick clouds he’d seen circling the planet before they crashed. They could _try_ to call someone, but there was no guarantee that the signal would make it through the atmosphere without getting scrambled. Magnus shook his head, trying not to think about it. The most important thing was that they’d have power. That was enough. It had to be.

They would have access to the ship's offline database. That included research databases, video files and all the letters that Ragnor had ever sent him. They’d have movies too, unless the crash had wiped the hard drives of everything fun. If that was the case, Magnus was going to have some strong words with whoever had designed the emergency systems. 

Strong words in his head, of course. Maybe he’d write them down in one of his journals on the off-chance someone would find them. His angry letter could be read aloud a hundred years in the future to some poor man’s great grandchildren and they’d know Magnus had been furious that he hadn’t been able to watch his crappy sitcoms. 

“I didn’t think you’d get them working,” Magnus said finally. There was a part of him that felt guilty for writing off what he thought was a useless endeavour. Clearly, Alec had never been wasting his time.

When Alec turned to him, he didn’t look upset or offended. Instead, he was grinning. “I know,” Alec said and his tone made Magnus roll his eyes. He didn’t need to sound _that_ smug about it. “So, are you going to help set up the other ones or are you going to make me do that myself too?” Alec asked finally, his grin no less prominent. 

Magnus glared at him before sighing dramatically. “Yes, I’ll help you, but only because I don’t want you to complain too much about having to do it yourself.” Magnus moved forward to peer over the table at what Alec had set up.

“I didn’t complain about having to do this one alone,” Alec pointed out, though he was still smirking. 

“I know you were desperate for my help the whole time.” Magnus waved his hand dismissively in Alec’s direction. “You don’t have to say it.” 

“I think I managed pretty well-” 

“You don't have to say it! I’ll help!” Magnus reached for a wire that was thrown across the table and glanced down at the charts Alec had been using. Some of them, Alec had written on, scribbling notes and calculations in the margins but it didn’t matter much to Magnus - who had no clue what he was looking at. “So… what do I need to do?” He asked, waving his wire in question. 

Alec huffed out a laugh. “Sit down, I’ll show you.” 

Magnus sat, drawing the charts towards him with a frown. He only had a moment to look across them before Apollo came bounding into the ship. It catapulted itself onto the table, excited to see what they were doing. It had done the same thing to Alec countless times but this time, the paperwork went flying. Apparently, Apollo was eager to help as well. 

“This isn’t that hard,” Magnus announced, a couple of hours later. He had put together a total of one solar panel. He’d been excited to set it up outside but Alec said that they should finish repairing all the panels first, before figuring out where they were going to position them. That made sense but Magnus, in his excitement to actually be working on something that mattered again, had still been disappointed. 

“It’s easy because I already figured out how to fix them,” Alec murmured. 

Magnus scoffed. “That’s a technicality. I helped you figure it out. I was sending you very motivational vibes the whole time.” 

Alec hummed softly. “Oh yeah, it really helped me power through every time you tried to crawl onto my lap. When you started kissing my neck and telling me to stop ‘working on something so boring’ and pay attention to you-” 

“I’ve never seen you work harder than after I did that.” 

Alec’s lips quirked. “Well, I was working on something but it wasn’t the solar panels.” 

Magnus looked up at Alec, a little surprised, before he burst into laughter. Alec had been growing more and more comfortable and confident, the longer they had been together and the closer they got. Magnus was learning that he liked this new Alec who was assured enough to make jokes about their new-found sex life. 

Magnus also learned that Alec’s confidence didn’t just extend to his words. He learned that Alec could hold him up with one hand and not even break a sweat while doing so.

That was a rather delightful discovery. 

Magnus knew that the solar panels needed to charge and wouldn’t just instantly power on the ship but he’d still found himself disappointed when they finished setting them up and nothing happened. For all their hard work, it had been a bit anticlimactic. Alec said that it would take a while before they harvested enough energy to be useful. He wasn’t quite sure how much power they needed to test the radio or even just start up the ship but it wouldn’t be in the next few hours regardless.

Alec seemed like he couldn’t care less that they had to wait and see if they would suddenly regain contact with the real world. He didn’t seem to care that soon, their whole situation could change. He didn’t seem to care that they might not die here with no one knowing they had survived at all. 

Instead, Alec looked happy to have nothing to do but wait, as if his shoulders felt lighter and he could finally relax. Magnus, on the other hand, could not relax. He could barely sit still. How could he when all he could think about was the fact that they could be rescued? He could call Ragnor and Catarina and hear their voices. He could see his cat again. 

Of course, there was a chance the radio wouldn’t work. Magnus knew that. There were a lot of things that could go wrong. Even if they made contact, it would be a while before anyone could get out to them and anything could go wrong in the meantime but it was hard not to cling to thoughts of what could be possible now. 

Except, apparently, Alec didn’t find it too hard. He was laying sprawled across the couch with his feet propped up and his hands settled comfortably behind his head. His eyes were closed, frown lines gone from his forehead, while Magnus himself was standing, pacing back and forth across the room.

Alec opened one eye. “Would you like to do something?” he asked, causing Magnus to look over and glare. He spoke to Magnus like he was an energetic child who needed to get outside. True, it was how Magnus felt, but he was still offended. 

“What are you proposing?” Magnus scowled, choosing to ignore the smirk that had appeared on Alec’s face. 

“Let’s go swimming.” 

Magnus laughed dryly. He assumed Alec was kidding or mocking him, but when he looked over, Alec had sat up. Magnus blinked at him and stopped moving. “You’re not kidding?”

Alec shrugged. “No, I guess not,” he said. “You’ve stepped in the water more than once. I fell in halfway the last time we went to go get water and nothing happened.” He looked up at Magnus, his smirk now gone, his expression serious and thoughtful. “You’re completely healed and we’re drinking the water. Swimming in it can’t be any worse and the water is so clear.”

Alec frowned, still speaking almost to himself. “I think we’d see anything if it came close to us and if there was any harmful bacteria or anything, well-” Alec shrugged again, but it seemed stiff. “I think we’d know by now.” Alec looked up at him for a second before he continued, “We also could use the excuse to clean up.”

Magnus thought about it for a second before he nodded slowly. Alec was the more cautious one. If Alec didn’t think swimming was too dangerous, Magnus wasn’t going to correct him. He made a fair point about cleaning up too. They tried to stay clean but it was hard. They hadn’t managed to get completely clean since they’d been here and Magnus knew they both smelled like it. “It really can’t be more dangerous than drinking it,” he agreed finally. Slowly, a smile stretched across Magnus’ face. “So… are we going swimming?”

Alec still looked a little unsure, as if he was rethinking it but after a moment, he nodded. “Yeah,” he said, sounding more confident than he looked. “We are.” 

Magnus grinned even wider. “If I had known, I’d have packed a bathing suit.” 

Behind him, Alec laughed. It was a sound that Magnus had grown to love far too quickly.

In lieu of a bathing suit, Magnus found himself pulling out the shorts he normally slept in and tying them tight around his hips. He skipped a shirt and went bare chested, a fact that Alec seemed endlessly distracted by. The first few times they had ventured to the lake, they’d been so careful not to touch anything but Magnus had touched it all enough that they both could assume they were in the clear. 

Still, Alec didn’t seem inclined to share his body with Magnus, even though Magnus had seen it countless times by now. He chose a dark shirt that he normally wore under his uniform and pants Magnus had to convince him to take off when they got there. He could _not_ go swimming in pants. Magnus would not allow it.

He fought Magnus on it the whole way there, insisting that he could, but when they actually reached the waterfront, Alec stripped out of his pants easily enough and stood there in just his underwear. He turned away from Magnus, blushing softly and seeming rather embarrassed. Magnus wasn’t sure what was different about getting undressed now compared to when they were making out but apparently, it was different. When Magnus encouraged him with a few pointed looks, he finally took his shirt off as well and when he saw the appreciation in Magnus’ eyes, he seemed to relax somewhat. 

Magnus wanted to push Alec into the water right then and there. The only thing better than Alec’s bare chest would be Alec’s bare chest wet with beads of water running down his sternum, getting caught in the hair he didn’t have a razor to shave anymore. He was embarrassed by it, Magnus already knew. Alec had admitted it one of the first times they slept together, when Magnus had run his fingers through it and Alec had flushed. He’d promised Magnus he was better at shaving it on Earth, with the proper supplies, but Magnus didn’t have a thing to complain about. He loved Alec’s body hair and he was determined to show Alec that he meant it when he said it. 

Alec turned to look out across the water, his eyes finally leaving Magnus. He looked reflective and Magnus wondered what he was thinking about but instead of waiting to let Alec speak, he moved behind him, touching his back softly. 

Alec leant back into Magnus’ chest, clearly expecting Magnus’ arms to wrap around him from behind. Maybe, he thought Magnus was about to give him a kiss but instead, Magnus planted both his palms on Alec’s back and pushed him, hard. 

Alec stumbled forward and fell right into the water, disappearing under the blue surface. His face reemerged a moment later, sputtering. “Magnus! Why’d you do that?” He spat out. 

Magnus stared down at him, putting to memory the sight of Alec glistening in the sunlight. What he wouldn’t have given for his camera to be able to take a picture of this moment, so he could look at it later.

Magnus smiled at the thought. If he had his way, the very first photo ever published of this planet would feature Alec, front and center, half-naked, bathed in sunlight and _beautiful_. That was, assuming the photos ever made it back to Earth in the first place. “I wanted to see you all wet,” he said to Alec, his smile growing. “I’m not disappointed by the sight.”

Alec scoffed and lunged forward without a moment of hesitation. He caught Magnus by his waist and yanked him down. Before Magnus could try to push him away, they were both underwater. Magnus clung to Alec, a flash of fear jolting through him as the surface disappeared.

They broke the surface of the water a second later and Alec’s arms held Magnus tight against his chest. He laughed, but as Magnus coughed and tightened his grip on Alec’s shoulders, Alec’s expression sobered. He looked up at Magnus, water trickling off his eyelashes. “Magnus? You okay? What happened?” 

Magnus took a deep breath, knotting his hands around the back of Alec’s neck and drawing himself closer. “I just don’t like water that much,” he forced out finally. “I’ve always been a little scared of it.” He admitted. 

Alec blinked at him. “Why’d you agree to go swimming then?”

Magnus frowned. “I wanted to see you all wet,” he repeated. 

The downturn of Alec’s mouth broke into a dumbfounded smile. “Magnus,” he whispered, “Do you want to get out?” 

Magnus shook his head no. No longer submerged, wrapped in Alec’s arms, it didn’t seem as scary. “But I think I’d feel much better if you kissed me,” he countered.

Much to Magnus’ delight, Alec was more than willing to oblige him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read this chapter on tumblr [here](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/post/627804941213450240/a-bit-of-space-66) listen to it [here](http://accal1acreations.uk/MalecBang2020/MBChapter6.mp3).

It turned out swimming was a wonderful idea because by the time they made it back to the ship, hours had gone by and Alec declared that it was time to test the solar panels. 

It was a big moment, one that could change everything but Magnus found himself hesitating. If the solar panels were working and generating enough power, they might be able to contact someone on the radio tonight. If that failed, they could listen to music. And if they didn’t have enough power for even that, at least they could use the lights inside the ship. Magnus would be thrilled by anything, at this point.

But coming back from swimming, the feeling of Alec’s lips still lingering on his own, it felt like whiplash to see Alec revert to his role as _Captain Lightwood_ as he began talking rapidly about solar panels, electricity and _hope_. If the solar panels didn’t work, nothing would change and yet, if they did, everything could. 

Magnus felt tired. Swimming had drained him and instead of feeling excitement at the possibility of radio communication, Magnus felt numb. He would be disappointed if this didn’t work but he hadn’t gotten his hopes up and if he was stranded here forever with Alec- well, that didn’t seem so bad. 

On Earth, maybe Alec wouldn’t like him anymore. Maybe everything would be different there and whatever made them click here would be gone. Maybe they’d been through too much together to ever make a life somewhere normal. There was a part of Magnus that wondered if they only made sense _here_ , halfway across the universe and stranded on some unknown planet. Here, they were each other’s only option. 

On Earth, Alec might not want Magnus anymore. He told Magnus he was in the closet and he might be too embarrassed to leave it or perhaps he’d ask Magnus to move out of the loft he loved so much. They might bicker, fight and disagree on everything. They might have nothing in common when the threat of survival wasn’t looming over their heads. 

What if Alec didn’t like cats? What if he didn’t get along with Ragnor and Catarina? What if he didn’t understand Raphael’s dry charm? What if Alec didn’t want kids? What if he _did_? Magnus wasn’t even sure if he wanted kids or not. 

Things were so simple here. He and Alec, they fit together because they had nothing left. Every part of their old selves was scattered and smashed apart by the crash but now, they might have to assemble all the little pieces back together. It left Magnus with one, burning question: if they were rescued, would they even like each other anymore? 

When Alec flicked the switch on the main console and their ship lit up instantly, Magnus _was_ excited. When the automatic door began whirring for the first time in months and they didn’t have to pull the crank to open it, Magnus was ecstatic. When he charged up his camera and took a wonderful series of photos of Alec and Apollo, Magnus was thrilled. How could he not be?

When Alec turned on the radio and his face lit up as he told Magnus that they had a signal, Magnus was happy. He was happy that they might wake up tomorrow to news that they were being rescued, that someone was on their way. Of course, he wanted to go home but when he laid in bed that night, his head pillowed on Alec’s chest, gazing at Alec’s arm and leg that dangled off the edge of the couch, Magnus wondered, if none of this had ever happened to them, would Alec have even looked at him twice?

They waited beside the console the next morning, eating inside rather than outside like they normally did. Magnus knew it might take a while to hear back, even if their radio was working, but Alec didn’t want to risk leaving it unattended. It would be just their luck they’d leave for a few minutes and the radio would go off. 

Instead, they sat together, eating in silence. Apollo had disappeared for the day and Alec seemed like he was in just as much of a reflective mood as Magnus was.

Magnus wondered what Alec was thinking about. The silence hung unbroken above their heads, minutes piling up, before Alec finally spoke. “What are you going to do?” he asked softly. “If we can go back home, I mean.” 

Magnus frowned. He’d thought about it a little, but mostly in terms of Alec. He wondered if Alec would want to come stay with him in New York for a while, after being reunited with his family, or if he would quickly grow sick of Magnus’ company. He wondered if Alec would be polite enough to say no to his face, or if they would part ways at the landing site and not see each other again, resigned to weeks of missed calls and email promises that would eventually lead to nothing. 

“Well, I certainly will not be going into space again any time soon,” Magnus muttered, choosing that instead of voicing any of his fears out loud.

Alec smiled, laughing softly. “Yeah, me neither.”

They lapsed into silence again. It felt stiff and awkward, a thick sort of silence that weighed down on Magnus’ shoulders, no matter how many times it looked like Alec was about to say something, or how many times Magnus tried and failed to start a conversation. 

Magnus wondered what that was about, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. 

Nothing came from the radio the next day. 

Magnus was disappointed, but not as disappointed as he thought he’d be. There was part of him that felt a little relieved, but as soon as he acknowledged that feeling in his head, he was swamped by a wave of guilt. It was selfish. Magnus was sure Alec wanted to go home. He knew Alec missed his family and Magnus did too. Magnus missed his friends dearly. He knew Ragnor would be in a foul mood, thinking he’d died and he owed it to Catarina to go save her from it. He _wanted_ to go home.

But he also wasn’t too upset to learn they didn't have the choice to go home, the same way they didn't have it last week. They didn’t have to talk about how things would change. They didn’t have to jump into the uncertainty of the future. All they had to do was stay here because that was the only option available to them. 

Magnus wasn’t sure if Alec was disappointed when nothing came from the radio. If he was, he didn’t show it and he definitely didn’t want to talk about it.

Magnus was sprawled alone on the couch, drifting in and out of sleep, aware of the cold absence of a body next to him. He rolled over onto his stomach, pressing his face into the hard excuse for a pillow. It was just then that he became aware of someone speaking, someone who was distinctly _not_ Alec. He was grateful that Alec was missing from his side because he jolted up so suddenly that he only narrowly avoided falling off the couch, catching himself with an outstretched hand. 

Alec was already awake. He sat on the sofa across from Magnus, looking as pale as a ghost as he stared over at the radio console. The radio console that was crackling with the sound of someone calling their names, over and over again. 

Magnus couldn’t even comprehend what he was hearing. He was glad it seemed like Alec was listening, because he definitely was not. His thoughts were scrambled. All he could think was that someone had heard them. 

Someone had heard them and they were responding. 

“-please respond with your status.” The message restarted after a few moments of silence. “Crew 108, we have received your-” 

Alec jumped to his feet. He rushed over to the radio and hit the button to respond before Magnus could even move. 

“This is Crew 108,” Alec barked into the receiver. “Our condition is stable. We have enough food for approximately fifty days. We found a water source. This is Alexander Lightwood speaking, and next to me is Magnus Bane. We are the only survivors of the crash.” 

Alec let the button go. The message they had received began replaying again, but neither Alec nor Magnus moved to turn it off. They just listened in shock, letting the words repeat over and over again.

“They heard us,” Alec whispered finally. 

Magnus put his hand on Alec’s arm and squeezed it. “They’re going to come get us,” he heard himself say. Half of him was still somewhere deep in his own head, trying to figure out what exactly that meant. 

“It’s going to take a while. They never do anything quick.” Alec responded.

Fifty days. They had fifty days left of food, fifty days for mission control to launch a rescue mission. Fifty days left here with Alec.

“My sister is going to kill me,” Alec said as he laughed soft and relieved. 

_Ragnor_ , Magnus thought with a jolt. He was going to see Ragnor again. He was going to see Catarina again. He was going to see Raphael. He was going to see his home again. He was going to see New York again. Part of Magnus still didn’t think it could possibly be true.

“They better still have my cat,” he said finally. Magnus was going to kill Ragnor if he’d gotten rid of his cat.

The response came quicker than Magnus had expected. 

Mission control was putting together a rescue mission to come get them as soon as possible. They hadn’t announced when they’d be launching yet but the goal was to get them before their food ran out, which was good for them both. Magnus cringed as he imagined trying to eat the sticky translucent leaves outside.

After that mission control had a million questions about the planet they were on and how exactly they had survived. Magnus told them about Apollo and was thrilled by the excitement he received from the other end of the line. It was exceptionally fulfilling, considering that Alec’s first reaction to discovering they weren’t alone on the surface of the planet was trying to kick Apollo out.

Knowing they’d be rescued and his data would be useful, Magnus set out to document as much as he could before they were picked up. He took photos of _everything_ , from the plants outside to where they’d been sleeping, to Apollo and even a couple selfies, with Alec rolling his eyes in the background.

Magnus looked through his notes, knowing now that people would actually be seeing them. He ripped out the page where he’d written to Ragnor. All of this would be heavily documented the second they were picked up. Magnus wouldn’t doubt if it was scrutinized in classrooms and research facilities across the globe. The last thing he needed was for Ragnor and the rest of the world to know exactly how teary eyed he’d gotten at the thought of never seeing him again. Ragnor would never let it go. 

Ragnor would also never let it go if he saw exactly how emotional Magnus had gotten when they’d been forwarded messages from their families but thankfully, Ragnor was completely unaware of that one. If Ragnor asked later, Magnus would insist he was completely unshaken by Ragnor’s snarky message about how Magnus owed him money for the funeral he’d arranged. Magnus was pretty sure his funeral was paid for by the government but he’d hash that out with Ragnor when he actually saw him.

They also learned that there had been a monument built for their ship and all the crew that had been lost with it. Ragnor explained that it would have been a pain to scrape Alec and Magnus’ names off it, so apparently the plaque was being amended to show they hadn’t actually died. 

Magnus asked Alec if he wanted to see the monument with him, when they returned to Earth. Instantly, Alec said no. He thought it would be weird to see a bronze version of himself, but both he and Magnus knew they would probably be forced to visit it in the endless press conferences they’d have to attend. Magnus could hear the book offers now.

Though Magnus’ question had been a joking one, they hadn’t really talked about what going home meant for either of them or what it meant for them together. Magnus thought that perhaps, they’d both been pointedly ignoring the conversation they very clearly needed to have. 

“So-” Magnus started without prompting. “You’re not out,” He finished. He’d wanted to be a bit more tactful with how he brought it up but Alec didn’t seem offended by Magnus’ abrupt question.

Instead, he took a deep breath. “No but I think-” Alec hesitated for a moment and that alone made Magnus nervous. “I think I want to be.” He said at last. “Everyone thought I was dead. If there was any better time to do it and have my parents' sympathy, it would be now.” 

Magnus nodded. That made sense. If he had any grand secret to reveal, it would be a good time to do it but that wasn’t exactly the question Magnus had wanted to ask or have an answer to. “And what does that mean for us?” He asked, only meeting Alec’s eyes when he forced himself to. He didn’t want to look like a coward or like he was as nervous as he really was. 

“Well,” Alec began, a soft flush coming over his cheeks. “I think it would be nice to, uh, continue this, if that’s… if that’s what you want to do as well.” 

It took a moment for Alec’s words to sink in but Magnus found himself smiling as they did. “I would like that,” he said. “We’ve gotten rather close-” Alec laughed softly. _Close_ seemed like a great simplification for what they’d gone through together. “-but there's still a lot I’d like to learn about you.” Magnus admitted, his words coming in a little bit of a rush now. “Like which side of the bed you sleep on. If you leave dishes in the sink or if you clean them right away. What your favorite restaurant is. If you can cook.”

A slow smile stretched across Alec’s face as Magnus spoke. “It almost sounds like you want to know what I’d be like to live with,” he said. 

Magnus blinked. That wasn’t what he’d been trying to imply, but that was exactly what he’d described. “Well,” Magnus tried to force down any embarrassment he felt bubbling up. “-after everything settles down, maybe we can test it out and go on a vacation somewhere. I’m planning on using _all_ of my time off after this.” 

Alec looked up at him. He searched Magnus’ face, like he was trying to see if Magnus was serious. It was the same exact thing he’d done when he’d kissed Magnus so many nights ago, like some part of him was still expecting Magnus to change his mind about him. At last, he nodded. “I’d like that a lot. It’d be nice to pick our destination this time.” Alec looked away for a moment, almost as if he was imagining it, and then he admitted softly, “I was worried once we got home you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.” 

Magnus’ own doubts flashed through his head. He’d been so worried that Alec would abandon him the moment they stepped foot on Earth again, or maybe pull him aside on the ship ride home and explain to him quietly and surely that they weren’t going to work, not beyond the surface of their new planet. Now, that all seemed so silly. 

Magnus found himself suppressing a smile, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bite it back. “Of course not,” he said. “I’ll have as much to do with you as you’ll let me. I plan to make you sick of me by the end of this.”

Magnus was teasing but Alec’s response was entirely serious. He didn’t laugh and when he spoke, there was nothing joking in his tone. “I don’t think I could ever get sick of you.” 

Magnus leaned into Alec’s side, letting his head fall onto Alec’s shoulder as they lapsed into silence. He felt a gentle wave of relief wash through him as their conversation sunk in. For the first time in months - for the first time since the crash - he could see the future before him. His and Alec’s future. He couldn’t wait to take Alec out to eat. He couldn’t wait to eat something _real_. He couldn't wait to take a shower, preferably with Alec by his side.

“Do you think Apollo will miss us?” Magnus asked after a moment. 

“Yes,” Alec replied, much to Magnus’ surprise. “But I think he’s growing up too and he’ll move on quickly. He latched onto you when he was a baby, but he’s getting bigger. He’s gone more independant. He’s even changing color.”

It was true. Apollo was turning blue now, much like the fully-grown creature they’d seen out on the water, the first day they ventured to the lake. Small talons were starting to sprout. Apollo came back to the ship less and less and, some nights, stayed out until the morning. The first night Apollo didn’t return had been the night after they regained power, and Magnus wondered if Apollo didn’t like the hum of electricity and the bright lights of the ship’s console, but maybe that was just an excuse Magnus used to make himself feel better.

The truth was probably a lot more simple: Apollo was moving on, just like Alec and Magnus would soon. Magnus had planned to say goodbye to Apollo before they left - he wanted to cuddle his companion to his chest and pet his head and hope that Apollo understood just a little how much Magnus had grown to care for him - but Apollo hadn’t returned to the ship in days now, and a part of Magnus knew he wasn’t coming back.

It was almost like Apollo knew they were about to leave, but Magnus still wished he’d been able to say goodbye.

The ship that came to get them was smaller than their own, but after spending so long cramped together in a single room, it seemed huge. Still, Alec and Magnus spent their first night onboard not unlike they had most nights in the weeks before. They laid curled together in their room, murmuring to each other and exchanging soft, quiet touches as they talked about what would happen now.

Though, some things had changed. For the first time in months, they had an actual bed they could share. It was small and technically, only made for one person, but it was still far bigger than anything they had shared before. They had pillows and blankets now and they even had a window that looked out into the void of space, along with a TV on the wall and anything they could possibly want to access on the ship's extensive database.

Compared to before, they were living in luxury. Even the food - condensed and vacuum sealed as it was - tasted like heaven after so long of eating flavourless protein bars. 

Alec had tentatively informed everyone that he and Magnus were together now. He had clearly expected some reprimand from mission control but it never came. Magnus supposed it wouldn’t look good on them, especially after they had abandoned Alec and Magnus on an alien planet and left them to die. Besides, Magnus wasn’t sure if they were technically employed anymore, or if the rules even applied to them now that they were rescuees. 

Magnus wondered if he’d have to reopen his bank accounts on Earth, since he and Alec had been declared dead. He wondered what Ragnor had decided to do with the loft, if he’d sold all of Magnus’ worldly possessions the moment Magnus was declared _killed in action_. They had talked, of course. Magnus had called Ragnor the moment he could, but he hadn’t asked about his money or his stuff. He’d even forgotten to ask about his cat. The sound of Ragnor’s voice on the other end of the satellite link had left Magnus watery eyed and anything else he wanted to say was easily forgotten. It didn’t matter. There would be time to talk about the little things later and Magnus would have the chance to be furious at whatever Ragnor had decided to do in his absence. 

Alec had talked to his family too. Magnus had given him some space - even though space was something they now had plenty of - and left him alone to dial his two brothers and his sister. Magnus wanted to give him room to breathe, but there was also a part of him that was curious about what Alec was saying.

Magnus had already told Ragnor about Alec and secretly, Magnus wanted to know what Alec would say about him in return, but he didn’t want to eavesdrop. Instead, he decided to explore the ship, wandering the maze of empty gray hallways and stopping to gaze through the porthole windows out into the darkness beyond. He hadn’t taken the time to look before. When he and Alec had first been brought aboard, their first thoughts had been food and sleep. Their second thoughts had been each other and their families. 

Magnus hadn’t even considered checking out the ship. As he walked around, the thought brought a small, knowing smile to his face. One would think that after so long together, he and Alec would want more moments like this, away from each other, but alone for the first time in a long time, Magnus felt the urge to wait and ask Alec to come with him. It was odd, seeing other people who weren’t Alec and it was odd walking around without Alec right there at his side, ready to jump in front of him should he get attacked by a vicious blue-skinned alien. 

Eventually, Magnus found himself sitting alone in an empty corridor. There were no benches, so Magnus sank to the ground. If anyone found him, he’d have a hard time explaining why he was on the floor, but Magnus couldn’t find it within himself to care. 

Maybe, he just needed a moment to sit on the ground and reflect; a moment away from the warm press of Alec’s shoulder against his, or from the dizzying array of stars beyond the window and from all that they had left behind on that strange planet. He had a lot to reflect on, now that he thought about it. They were famous on Earth, or so Magnus had heard. Everyone back home knew they were alive by now, that they had survived on an Earth-like planet for months without proper food, water, or radio contact. 

Ragnor had explained that they had been on the news almost everyday this week, which Magnus found a little incomprehensible. His entire life story was broadcast on the TV: his early life, his journey into the space academy, his previous missions, all the same segments repeating over and over again, and now, his experience with Alec too - what once had been something shared between just the two of them, stranded on a lone planet halfway across the galaxy with no-one but each other for company, was now common knowledge among everyone back on Earth. Magnus wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but either way, he imagined his life was going to be very different when he got back home, in more ways than one. He thought of TV interviews and press conferences and then of his neglected social media, which had been extremely popular once upon a time. He hadn’t had time to post anything new since their rescue.

Magnus sighed, leaning back against the wall. He wanted to post a photograph of him and Alec perhaps with Apollo, but mission control would want to approve everything first; the first photographic evidence of their new planet would have to be carefully chosen, and not a photo of Magnus gazing longingly at his ex-captain while they were waist-deep in lake water. The longer he thought about it, the more Magnus realized that he was fine waiting. He didn’t need to rush to reconnect with the world so suddenly.

Ragnor was far more than enough for now. He would talk to Catarina and his cat soon. Maybe, he’d try calling Raphael but Raphael was always a bit of a hard person to handle over the phone. Either way, he had Alec and his family. He didn’t need much else. 

Magnus glanced up at the sound of someone else coming down the hallway. He moved to stand, planning in his head to make a show of having dropped something so that he wouldn’t be caught alone on the ground, staring at a wall, but when the figure came closer, Magnus realized it was Alec. 

Alec paused when he saw him, a frown appearing on his face. “Why are you on the floor?” He asked softly, clearly as concerned as Magnus had expected someone to be. With anyone else, he’d be embarrassed but with Alec, Magnus found it hard to care. 

Magnus shrugged his shoulders.

Alec pressed his lips into a thin line, thinking about it for a moment, before he moved to sink down against the wall next to Magnus. “Okay,” he said slowly, looking to Magnus as he settled beside him. It reminded Magnus suddenly of them both outside their ship, in the sun on the ground together. “What are we doing?” Alec asked after a beat of silence. 

Magnus laughed softly. “Just sitting,” he murmured as he took Alec’s hand in his own. He would think about what he’d share with the world later but for now, he was happy here, in this empty corridor, away from Earth and away from the chaos it would bring. He had Alec next to him, willing to sit with him on the ground if he wanted. 

He didn’t need much else. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is finally finished! Thank you all for reading and thank you to my lovely beta and podfic artist as well. 
> 
> Feel free to come talk to me on [tumblr](https://facialteeth.tumblr.com/).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] A Bit of Space](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26156461) by [Accal1a](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accal1a/pseuds/Accal1a)




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